Mountain Valleys Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) has been working with the Appalachian RC&D FAC Coalition since 2015, whose mission is to increase awareness of the risks of wildfire in the Southern Appalachians and spread the message of Firewise Communities. We work with interested communities and partner agencies, like the NC Forest Service, to develop site-specific community assessments and action plans.
We also foster several other programs including watershed stewardship, economic development, and renewable energy projects.
McDowell Community Wildfire Network
Mountain Valleys RC&D received project funding from Coalitions & Collaboratives, Inc. and launched the "McDowell Community Wildfire Network" in Summer 2020. The McDowell Community Wildfire Network is committed to collaborating with partners and community to perform and track wildfire mitigation activities to build wildfire resiliency in McDowell County, NC.
We have organized and combined our resources to increase wildfire mitigation, targeting high-risk areas of the county and working with local fire departments, NCFS, USFS, and the county. A reporting system was developed, incorporating GIS, to track our progress and identify areas that need attention.
We have acquired tools for a community Wildfire Mitigation Tool Cache, available to communities and local agencies to perform mitigation tasks. Our goal is to treat hazardous fuels around 120 structures and treat 200 acres with prescribed burning by June 2021.
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