The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced more than $200 million in grants for wildfire resilience projects nationwide last month, including nearly $25 million for work in California.

One of the funded projects is in Mendocino County, where the Redwood Forest Foundation will receive $2.8 million for wildfire mitigation work near Leggett in unincorporated Mendocino County, the USDA said.

The Fort Bragg-based nonprofit manages and restores forestlands throughout the North Coast. The new funding will support the expansion and maintenance of fuel breaks along state Highway 1 — including retreating about 4.5 miles of existing breaks and constructing roughly 3 additional miles. Fuel breaks will also be built along two nearby ridgeline spurs, totaling 579 acres of treatments.

According to the foundation’s grant description, “these fuel treatments will protect impoverished, very remote and rural residents from anticipated wildfires originating in this dense, forested landscape.”

The grant will also fund two community prescribed fire trainings and staff certifications, which RFF plans to use to continue prescribed burn operations at the Usal Redwood Community Forest.

50,000 acres of coastal splendor

The community forest, owned by RFF, spans 50,000 acres along the Lost Coast from Rockport in northern Mendocino County to near Benbow in Humboldt County.

The Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program, created in 2022 under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, funds community-based wildfire mitigation projects in areas with high wildfire risk, lower-income populations or communities affected by major disasters in the past decade.

This year’s awards come as the Trump administration moves to shift more responsibility for emergency preparedness from the federal government to state and local agencies

“Keeping forests healthy, resilient, and productive doesn’t come from Washington,” said USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, “It comes from us standing alongside the people and communities we serve, and supporting practical, science-based management that ensures the future of the forests and rural prosperity. This is how we safeguard our heritage, protect future generations, and ensure that America’s land remains the envy of the world.”

Other grant funded projects were awarded in Humboldt, Tulare, Plumas and Fresno counties, and the Eastern Sierra region.

RFF did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.