Diamond Mountain - Mark West NEC
"Working together to plan community stewardship actions to reduce fuel density, fire intensity, and support ecosystem health and biodiversity"
The Mark West Area encompasses a critically important region of wildfire and ecological focus. The watershed of Mark West Creek in the southern Mayacamas Mountain Range which leads into the Russian River is the geographical center of the Diamond Mountain - Mark West Natural Enterprise Complex (DMMW NEC). The ridge lines of the mountains in both Sonoma and Napa County generate intense wind events in late summer and fall that cause potentially dangerous wildfire conditions.
This area has been impacted by large, destructive wildfires in the past five years. The Santa Rosa suburban communities of Fountain Grove, Coffey Park, and Rincon Valley historically experienced devastating wildfires, including the 2017 Tubbs Fire, the 2019 Kincade Fire, and the 2020 Glass Fire (A derivative of the LNU Lightning Complex Fires). High intensity winds blowing east to west out of the upper watershed combined with an untimely fire ignition and caused significant loss of life and property damage plus extensive regional economic impacts. The three fires have estimated to cause approximately $3 BN in related costs to our community. Avoided costs in the future will be essential for not only the economic, social, and mental health for those in the project zone but also those who live around the NEC.
TALS is working to ensure that:
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All forested communities in the Central Mayacamas Mountains are organized and represented
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Projects and land improvements are prioritized at the landscape level for safety, wildfire and climate resilience, and ecological value.
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Forested communities have the financial resources and capacity to implement projects in perpetuity.
2022-24 CALFIRE Fire Prevention Grant
DMMW NEC was awarded a CALFIRE Fire Prevention Planning grant to:
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Improve fire control, public safety, and protection of communities and infrastructure through the planning of three shaded fuel breaks (Sharp Road, Kings Hill Road, Diamond Mt. Ridge)
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Support landowners through a planning process that provides them with the needed information and tools to manage and sustain lower fire risk, and an ecologically healthy landscape. The planning process will include 3 onsite (and online) community meetings and a unit planning workshop.
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Create a community forest stewardship plan to lead to funding and implementation of cooperative forest stewardship actions that reduce high intensity wildfire and improve forest ecology and climate resilience, while sustaining and improving critically endangered Coho and Steelhead Salmon in the Mark West Creek watershed.
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Complete the planning and scope the environmental compliance needs to make the project area eligible for funding for stewardship activities through various state and federal grant programs.
This map shows the units for community level planning
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Wildfire Fuel Mapper helps landowners in locating and understanding fire hazards on their land with detailed maps and resources.
For more information contact:
General Grant Inquiries:
Anaïs Morris anais@livinsystemsalliance.org
FireWise Communities:
Technical Questions:
Jason Well jwells@sonomarcd.org