California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) Update

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) is providing funding to help implement vegetation treatments on State Responsibility Area (SRA) Lands south of the unincorporated community Dinsmore in Humboldt County, California. The Humboldt County Resource Conservation District (HCRCD) has prepared a Project Specific Analysis (PSA) and Addendum for the Butte Creek – Buck Mountain Project as a later activity covered by the California Vegetation Treatment Project (CalVTP) Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on June 11, 2026, which entails implementation of vegetation treatments on up to 6,414 acres; CAL FIRE is providing funding to Cottrell Ranch, LLC to implement treatments on up to 2,361 acres. The proposed treatment types (Ecological Restoration, WUI Fuel Reduction, and Fuel Break) and treatment activities (e.g., manual and mechanical treatments, prescribed burning, including both broadcast and pile burning, and herbicide application) are consistent with those evaluated in the CalVTP Program EIR and the writ of mandate issued by the Superior Court of San Diego County on November 14, 2025 in California Chaparral Institute and Endangered Habitats League v. Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, and pursuant to PRC §4483, and have been designed to avoid type conversion in areas where chaparral and/or coastal sage scrub plant communities may be present. Maintenance treatments would involve the same vegetation treatment types and activities used in the initial treatments. The purpose of these treatments is to promote forest and watershed health, reduce fuel load, and demonstrate efficacy of climate beneficial prescriptions.