Comment Log Display
Below is the comment you selected to display.
Comment 105 for Public Input on Cap-and-Trade Auction Proceeds Second Investment Plan (investplan2-ws) - 1st Workshop.
First Name: Justine
Last Name: Reynolds
Email Address: juss.reynolds@gmail.com
Affiliation: Sierra Resource Conservation District
Subject: Utilization of RCDs, Forest biomass, fire mitigation
Comment:
Thank you for this opportunity to provide comments on the Draft Second Investment Plan for Cap and Trade Auction proceeds. These comments are intended to serve in addition to those comments provided at the workshop in Fresno, CA on November 4, 2015. I would like to encourage the utilization of Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) to connect with disadvantaged communities and create partnerships with other organizations at a local level. RCDs function is coordinate and provide land owners and residents of their district with resources including but not limited to resource conservation, education, and training. RCDs have a board of directors appointed by the board of supervisors from landowners in the district, and are uniquely positioned to understand and address the concerns of their district. Additionally, as a quasi-governmental agency, we are able to form interagency agreements and partnerships, as well as qualify for grants normally closed to state or federal entities. Sierra Resource Conservation District currently partners with NRCS on outreach to Hmong and Punjabi communities. We also have developed interagency agreements with Sierra Nevada Conservancy to accomplish unique tasks outside the scope of typical contract agreements. Other RCDs perform monitoring activities for other agencies. RCDs are uniquely situated to assist with your goals of engaging disadvantaged and rural communities, and meeting resource conservation management objectives. I would also like to applaud you for your inclusion of forest biomass in your investment plan. Forest biomass is a real answer for rural foothill communities – not only does it reduce woodsmoke, generate renewable energy, and provide jobs, but it also addresses public safety concerns due to the unprecedented tree mortality event in the Sierra Nevada. I encourage you to continue to fund projects that support large scale forest restoration activities, which provides a sustainable source of forest biomass to keep rural facilities operation and available to communities for disposal of their private forest biomass. Additionally, utilization of forest waste biomass is important, but make sure your terminology is consistent with USFS Region 5 definitions, as the forest service would use the term submercantile biomass instead of waste. Biomass is not considered waste by the forest service, and it will further enable cooperation if your terminology is consistent with the largest manager of forest lands in the state. The ability to pair multiple funding sources for one project is a great idea, but we do want to encourage the utilization of the same administrative process for these funding sources. It will maximize the use of funds if there isn’t a separate administrative burden for each grant, that they instead complement each other and work off of the same process. I understand that different agencies may have different reporting protocols internally as well as necessary tracking items, but there are grant management tooks like FAAST and ZoomGrants that have been working to streamline grant processes. Lastly, I would encourage you to give equal weight to the benefits of fire mitigation as carbon sequestration. Many forest restoration projects may seem less competitive under GGRF carbon emission reduction guidelines, as they remove trees and hence decrease carbon sequestration. The potential mitigation of high severity fire due to fuel reduction is difficult to analyze and therefore not well studied. That being said, those few studies, like the Mokolumne Cost-Avoidance Analysis study developed by Sierra Nevada Conservancy, which have been done shows huge fire mitigation benefits to fuel reduction. Thank you again, this looks like an excellent investment plan for CA.
Attachment:
Original File Name:
Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2015-11-13 18:16:25
If you have any questions or comments please contact Office of the Ombudsman at (916) 327-1266.