Butte RCD is excited to introduce the Small Forest Landowner Assistance Program (SFLAP).  This program provides low-cost or no-cost treatments toward fire recovery and resilience for small, non-industrial, private landowners. The treatments can include tree and brush thinning, re-planting, pruning, fuels reduction, large hazard tree removal, or whatever other services will make the greatest improvement in landowner and community safety.

Each landowner will be eligible for no-cost work on 1 to 10 acres that  best contribute to wildfire safety and resilience on their property. There is no cap to property size, however, properties smaller than 250 acres will be prioritized.  For the 2024 season, this program will only serve 20 landowners or up to 120 acres. Your property must be within the North Fire Complex footprint. We will  priortize 10 applicants from Feather Falls. SFLAP will provide landowners with a forest management plan prepared by a Registered Professional Forester and the necessary surveys to complete the environmental compliance required for CEQA. During this initial phase of SFLAP, the BCRCD will also select qualified contractors and fund 100% of the cost of implementing the selected treatments. 

To qualify for SFLAP, you must communiciate your intrest in having an active role in your land management and the long-term maintence of provided services. We cannot fund all who apply. Landowners who are low income and/or who live on their property will be prioritized for selection. The first areas of focus for SFLAP are Berry Creek in 2023 and Feather Falls in 2024, two areas devastated by the 2020 North Fire Complex.

Residents outside of Feather Falls application deadline: January 15, 2024. 

Residents of Feather Falls application deadline: Feburary 15, 2024. 

Who Can Apply? You can, if you meet the following criteria:

• Your property must be within the 2020 North Fire Complex footprint.
• You are a non-industrial, private landowner.
• You are the landowner or someone (land manager, forester) who has the written approval of the landowner to apply. Properties held in a Trust and LLCs are also eligible applicants.
• You are willing to enter into an agreement with Butte County RCD and allow for work to be completed on your land. 
• Your property is or was forested containing any of the following vegetation types: oak woodland, mixed evergreen, ponderosa pine.

What kind of work will this program support?  

No commercial value wood product can be removed through this program. The project area must be at least one acre in size. 

Projects under SFLAP must include one or more of the following activities:

• Preparation of a Forest Management Plan by a Registered Professional Forester (RPF)
• Reforestation activities, such as
  • Site preparation
  • Tree or native plant planting
  • Tree shelters
• Fuels reduction and forest stand improvement activities, such as
  • Hazard tree removal
  • Dead and dying fuels treatment
  • Shaded fuel breaks
  • Oak woodland improvement
  • Brush removal
  • Thinning/“release” treatments
  • Pruning (limbing-up)
• Follow-up fuel hazard reduction activities, such as mastication/chipping or pile-burning.

Click here to read more about SFLAP Treatment Options.

A Good Fit

The following qualities are not required, but they make you an especially good fit for SFLAP:

• You’re committed to the sustainable management of your forestland
• You’ve cooperated with your neighboring landowners to enroll adjacent properties in the program
• You are low-income and/or you would not be able to treat your forestland without the financial support of this program
• You’ve developed a forest management plan or other guiding document with a forester and you’ve already  identified management units and planned treatments.
• Your land already has some resource surveys (like archaeological surveys or even full CEQA coverage) from previous management

Acknowledgement

If selected, to participate in the program you must enter into an agreement with the BCRCD to allow biological and cultural surveys to be conducted on your property. Additionally, we require selected applicants to transfer the ownership of their dead and/or dying trees to the Licensed Timber Operator (LTO) that is awarded the project contract. By doing this, the RCD will ensure that the proper permits are submitted to government agencies for tree removal work on each property. Plus, the LTO will use revenue generated from the sale of saw logs to subsidize tree removal and slash cleanup  work on the property.

Selection Scoring Method

To view how the applications were ranked, please see our scoring system: 

How to Apply

If you live in  Berry Creek or Feather Falls and you need help to increase your property’s fire resilience and recovery, please complete the SFLAP APPLICATION by the deadlines assigned to your location.

Alternatively, you may download the application here:  

Send completed applications to the address provided below, postmarked no later than the application deadline date.

Butte County Resource Conservation District

641 Entler ave. Bldg. 5 unit 47

chico, CA 95928 

For more information please visit the Butte County RCD webpage or contact us at forestry@bcrcd.org or at (530) 413-7669.

This program has been funded by the USDA Forest Service (USFS) 2021 Post-Fire Disaster Recovery Grant via the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts and by a Regional Fire and Forests Capacity Program subgrant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.