Goals & Needs

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Trinity County RCD has been home to a GrizzlyCorps Fellow since the program’s inception and we look forward to continuing our partnership to promote climate resilience in Trinity County.

 

The Fellow will assist in building capacity for hazard mitigation planning and community outreach for the Trinity County Fire Safe Council (TCFSC). This position is multidisciplinary and will focus on the review and implementation of multiple local planning documents to reduce hazard risk, youth education, community outreach, and forest health implementation.

 

This work will aim to increase community and partner engagement in TCFSC programming. In addition, it will support the maintenance of multiple planning documents having to do with reducing wildfire and climate hazard risks in the county. This work is critical to local forest and fire resilience for a county that seen repeated catastrophic wildfires in the last two decades.

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More information about TCRCD can be found here:

https://www.tcrcd.net/

 

More information about the TCFSC can be found here:

https://firesafetrinity.org/

 

Capacity Building Projects

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The Fellow will work with the Trinity County Resource Conservation District's Trinity County Fire Safe Council program. Below are the primary capacity building projects:

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1) Communications and Outreach: The Fellow will work with the TCFSC to engage residents and organizations in Trinity County and develop public education materials and outreach. There are no incorporated communities, but over 15 unincorporated and rural communities across the county. The Fellow will support the outreach for and coordination of community meetings. The rural nature of the county creates several barriers for outreach - including communities with lack of reliable internet connectivity, remoteness, and financial constraints. The Fellow will work to understand best community-specific outreach strategies and increase the number of residents within TCFSC programming. This will be, in part, through the creation of a report outlining community-specific outreach strategies with recommendations for effective communication channels, education materials, and strategies to increase engagement in fire safe programming. This work is critical to addressing resilience challenges as it will enable the dissemination of critical information, promote community engagement, and support the ability for communities to adapt to the challenges of climate change.

 

2) Hazard Resilience Planning: The TCFSC is responsible for the update and maintenance of the Trinity County Hazard Mitigation Plan (Hazard Plan), Trinity County Evacuation Plan (Evac Plan), and Trinity County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP). While the CWPP update will still be in development at the start of the Fellow’s term, the HMP and Evac Plans are slated to be adopted by Summer 2024. The Fellow will assist in the review and monitoring of these plans to track progress, review the efficacy of the proposed projects, and to maintain community involvement through the next plan update. Ensuring that the community is engaged and projects aimed to educe the impacts of hazard events, particularly wildfire, are prioritized, will increase our ability to address resilience challenges. The resources developed and support offered through this project will increase the TCFSC's ability to connect and engage residents. It will allow the organization to overcome existing barriers to ensure that all residents have equal access to projects, necessary planning documents have an ongoing assessment, and there are insights on implementation activities.

 

Organizational & Community Highlights

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The Trinity County Resource Conservation District (TCRCD) is a special district whose mission is to assist in protecting managing, conserving and restoring the natural resources of Trinity County through information, education, technical assistance, and project implementation programs. The TCFSC is a program coordinated by TCRCD to encourage public and private partner collaboration in wildfire resilience projects and to promote fire safe activities in the county. The TCFSC began in 1999 as a concerted effort by concerned parties interested in reducing the county’s wildfire threat. This resulted in the establishment of regular coordination meetings and the adoption of the nation’s first Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

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Our office is located in Weaverville, California at the foothills of the Trinity Alps Wilderness. Weaverville, the County seat of Trinity County, is approximately sixty minutes from Redding in Shasta County and two hours from Arcata along HWY 299. Trinity County has a population of approximately 15,781 people and over 76% of the land in Trinity County is managed by the federal government. There is an abundance of outdoor recreation activities including access to the Trinity River long the HWY 299 corridor. Weaverville has a quaint historic downtown along Main St with a few art galleries, shops, and restaurants, yet is limited in indoor activity options. Trinity Lake and Lewiston Lake are just a short drive away with great fishing, hiking, swimming, and boating opportunities.

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