Editor’s note: FireScape Mendocino is a region and member of the Fire Learning Network. Laura, Bob, and Don serve on FireScape’s core team of partners that coordinate to improve forest health on and around the Mendocino National Forest in Northern California. In this blog, they reflect on FireScape Mendocino’s 10 year anniversary with some background on the partnership, what they’ve accomplished, and what they are looking to next. All photos credit to Laura Leidner, USDA Forest Service.
The best laid plans often go awry. At least that’s the case for one community collaborative — FireScape Mendocino. The group formed 10 years ago with a vision to improve forest health in the fire-prone landscape of Mendocino National Forest and neighboring lands.
“Little did I know that when we started FireScape in 2013, that we would go through the 2018 Ranch Fire,” says Don Amador, former FireScape Mendocino co-chair. “And we’d go through the 2020 August Complex. We’d go through these major storm events.”
In the last six years, catastrophic wildfires burned almost 90% of the Mendocino National Forest. The Ranch Fire was the largest wildfire in California state history, until the August Complex surpassed it in 2020 with over one million acres burned. The remaining trees — weakened by years of drought, fire damage and insect infestation — then faced two consecutive winters of heavy rain, snow and high winds.
Existential questions and uncertainty surfaced in the immediate aftermath of the 2018 and 2020 wildfire seasons. But in this era of unprecedented environmental change, the core beliefs of the collaborative held strong.
The Fire Learning Network was key to facilitating this voluntary collaborative effort. Working together, members of the collaborative emphasize shared learning, problem solving and action on the ground to shape the future of this fire-prone landscape.
“Building that collaborative to enhance forest health and fuels projects allowed us to come together, support each other, and figure out a way to move forward with the post-fire and post-storm events,” said Amador.
“That’s the real value to me. If we hadn’t done that then, we wouldn’t have the community program we have today to solve problems for the Mendo and our partners.”
One of the most significant accomplishments of this collaborative in the wake of the Ranch and August Complex wildfires has been their support and contribution to the Mendocino National Forest’s forest-wide prescribed fire and fuels management strategy. The collaborative pushed the forest to closely examine its Potential Operational Delineations (PODs), which are generally along roads, watersheds, and ridge tops, and the values at risk within distinct PODs.
“PODs are a tool for both forest planning and fire and fuels management and I appreciate how they call for public participation in their development,” said Bob Schneider, another previous co-chair for the collaborative.
FireScape Mendocino played an instrumental role to highlight the strategic planning process, provided public and partner input opportunities, and raised awareness about the benefits and challenges of prescribed fire and fuels management.
“History was made when – for the 1st time in my 34-year recreation advocacy and stewardship career – I witnessed a Forest Service line-officer sign a decision for a NEPA planning document,” said Amador.
“This decision to increase the pace and scale of forest health and fuel projects could not have come at a better time,” he continued.
That work has now translated to acres accomplished on the ground. In the fall of 2024, the forest and its partners began implementing its first fuels project under the new forest-wide prescribed fire and fuels strategy. The Whitlock Project is the first of several projects within the Upper Thomes watershed to connect fuel breaks across private and public lands. As of February 2025, the forest has completed 60 acres of mastication and piling in the Whitlock project. Future plans in the area include follow up treatments, including prescribed fire.
Bringing people and ideas together
Other members of FireScape Mendocino’s core team acknowledged the group’s ability to bring ideas and people together, trying new approaches.
“There is more to FireScape than fire,” said Schneider. “It’s about all the resources — including people. It is a collaborative approach to land management, reaching beyond human established boundaries (i.e., property lines) to restore landscapes across natural boundaries.”
Since 2020, the Mendocino National Forest and many of the partners who make up the FireScape Mendocino collaborative now operate under formal agreements. And with millions in funding, their efforts focus on projects to reduce fuels and restore forest health on and near the forest.
“First, we were asking, what do we do now? How do we get through this trauma? And now we are moving forward on projects,” Schneider said.
One of the partners working on the ground, Clear Lake Environmental Research Center (CLERC) also reflected on the collaboration.
“To me what’s interesting about this collaborative is how we are working together,” said Tracy Cline, CLERC Stewardship Director. “We, at CLERC, are like the little forest elves working on the south side, and then Resource District of Tehama County and others are working over on the east side.”
CLERC has plans for 300 to 400 acres of tree planting each year over the next several years within the Ranch Fire footprint. Planting goals are not just for timber production, but for long-term restoration goals.
“We’re testing a model of where we will have good success to plant conifers based on soil, aspect, and soil moisture,” said Cline. “We are also looking at where we should expect conifers to regenerate naturally and areas where we shouldn’t be planting at all.”
Looking back across the decade, the forest and its partners have witnessed a lot of change. But there is plenty to be hopeful about and much work ahead.
“We’ve come through a really difficult time on the Mendo,” said Schneider. “We’ve worked hard and we have projects on the ground, and there is a lot more planned.”
****