Rural Centers Wildland and Urban Interface Residential Forest Reclamation Program

My family and I spend so much of our valued time in our forests. From living, camping, swimming, fishing, and working, our community is so blessed to have the connection with nature we do and the distance from urban centers we truly value. But I have also seen the very real and traumatizing effects of wildfires in our communities, from the Caldor Fire and Mosquito Fire to the September lightning strikes and even more recent fires this year.

We are dedicated to many missions, but disaster recovery, mitigation, and resiliency are so much at the heart of what we do for many reasons. As a Georgetown Divide native, I truly value our friends, families, schools, jobs, homes, parks, and community.

We have many thousands of acres that are unmanaged and back up not only to our recreational forest, but to our neighbors and schools where our children attend. We have seen the devastation of wildfires in our Northern California communities firsthand. For our communities to be sitting in the middle of our forests without the needed resources or economic tools we once had—now monopolized by corporate logging—we have very low resources to mitigate the risks to our communities.

I truly hope there is common understanding that our fuels are out of hand and need a resource to manage these critical risks and provide viable economic resources. As much of our lands are at the border of federal lands, we are exploring public, private, federal, and state partnerships. I hope landowners and homeowners will work with us in our new programs and build cooperative agreements to bring our vital forest economy back to our community.

When valuable timber can be responsibly managed in our communities to create vital jobs, we can protect our homes and towns, steward forestry lands, and safeguard the beautiful federal and state lands we take so much pride in. Working with ranger districts and forestry partners, NPCC can pursue grants that help reduce wildfire risk, manage fuels, thin forests, and bring back local rural jobs—putting community safety and local benefit before profit-driven extraction.

If you are a significant timberland owner, please reach out so we can share information about our upcoming goals and programs. We hope to reclaim jobs and economic opportunity, thin forests for the safety of our communities, and build stability for high-risk wildfire areas in our Northern California communities. Preventing wildfires is one of the most important ways we can provide safety and stability for our community.

For eligible gifts, donors may be able to claim a charitable income-tax deduction based on the fair market value of the timber or forestry asset contributed, subject to applicable tax rules, valuation requirements, and individual circumstances. Donors should consult qualified legal and tax professionals to determine whether a gift is the right pathway while supporting community safety and the rural economy.