Wine Country Times

Officials of the California State Parks Foundation announced on Feb. 11 they will award $135,000 in grant funding to 15 state parks to fix wildfire damage including Anderson Marsh State Historic Park in Lake County.

“The 2020 California wildfires were horrifically destructive, and our beloved state parks have undergone devastating damage. There is a real need to restore fragile habitats and rebuild parks, while building climate resiliency to mitigate the impact of climate change,” Rachel Norton, executive director of California State Parks Foundation said on the organization’s website.

The LNU Lightning Complex Fire forced closure of Anderson Marsh State Historic Park (not burned) in August 2020, when separate fires merged and ravaged California’s wine country including parts of Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo and Solano County. The fires were not contained until October and burned 192,000 acres.

Anderson Marsh will still receive $9,026 of the grant funding which will allow park personnel to restore a meadow first seen when entering the park that was damaged in the 2016 Clayton Fire. Non-native species of plants will be planted along with native grasses, shrubs and trees, park rangers said.    

Titled the “Wildfire Resiliency and Prevention Grant,” the money will do assessments of the fire damage suffered in the parks and the resulting risks to habitat, parklands and biodiversity. Plans can then be enacted to restore each site through repair of hillsides, campgrounds, trails, structures and the restoration of native species.

In addition, the funding can be used for removal of invasive (non-native) species of plants and preventive work, clearing brush and creating a defensible space to protect against future fires.

Educational materials for distribution to the public and park visitors can be used to explain climate change and the need to make California parks more resilient, the report said.

A number of parks in Northern California in addition to Anderson Marsh State Historic Park will be receiving the grant money including Big Basin Redwood State Park, Mount Diablo State Park, South Yuba, Sugarloaf and Armstrong Redwoods State Park.

Information about the Wildfire Resiliency and Prevention Grant can be accessed at www.calparks.org.