CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Program Grant

Funder: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)

The CAL FIRE Forest Health Research Program aims to enhance forest resilience in California by funding critical research in forest health and fire science. This initiative, part of the California Climate Investments, supports studies that address vital topics such as wildfire management, ecological impacts, and socio-economic factors. By prioritizing scientific research, the program ensures that actionable insights are available for forest management decisions to combat climate change effects and promote biodiversity.

Priority Research Topics
The following topics have been identified as priorities for study for the Research Program. Topics are numbered for reference, but not ranked in terms of priority.  Research proposed under this solicitation must address one or more of these priority topics. Research projects should be focused on and relevant to California ecosystems and their management.
Disturbance, recovery, and strategies for various types of landowners to increase forest resilience in an altered future climate.Implementation, effectiveness, impacts, and tradeoffs of current and alternative management strategies to reduce unwanted wildfire impacts, increase carbon storage, sustain and promote biodiversity, improve water and air quality, and provide regional economic benefits.Contemporary range of variation and trends in fire regimes, forest conditions and distributions in California ecosystems (particularly those less well studied) in relation to historical or pre European settlement conditions or processes.Forest products and utilization of forest residues related to fuel reduction and forest health treatments.Human dimensions, socio-economic considerations, and environmental justice issues related to forest health and wildfire management.Improved prediction of wildland fire spread, behavior, severity, patch size, and potential impacts, particularly under extreme weather conditions and/or within the wildland-urban interface