The Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego has recently aided our partners at the Volcan Mountain Foundation in “cutting the green tape”, helping in the effort to secure funding and CEQA concurrence for the foundation’s Forest Habitat Resilience Project.
The Volcan Mountain Foundation is a regional land trust that conserves approximately 35,000 acres of land within the Volcan Mountain range, located in east San Diego County. Operating since 1988, the foundation has been involved in the willful acquisition of montane land for the overarching goal of conserving San Diego’s sensitive sky island ecosystems on Volcan Mountain.
Recently, the foundation has developed and begun implementation of the Volcan Mountain Montane Forest Habitat Resilience Project which looks to restore 1,100 acres of land near the town of Julian. Home to rare native species such as the California Spotted Owl and Townsend’s Big-Eared Bat, this area has been heavily impacted by wildfires over the last few decades.
The project looks to restore forest health in the region through a process of fuel clearance and reforestation. Both of these aspects aim to reduce the severity of future fires on the ecosystem and to allow native conifers to reclaim areas of the forest that have undergone type conversion.
This November, the Volcan Mountain Foundation, in partnership with the RCD of Greater San Diego, was able to secure $1.55 million to fund the project. In addition to this, the RCD led an initiative for the project’s concurrence with CEQA’s Statutory Exemption for Regional Projects (SERP) which has allowed the expedition of the project’s implementation.
For more information on the Volcan Mountain Foundation and their projects visit the link here.
