The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced a partnership with the Hoopa Valley Tribe on projects to restore ecosystems and improve wildfire resilience.
The measure is backed by $100,000 from President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that will be utilized to renovate and enhance projects in the Lacks Creek Management Area located in Northwest California, according to a March 24 BLM news release.
“We are pleased to continue our partnership with the Hoopa Tribe, which has already contributed significantly to improving conditions in the Lacks Creek Management Area near the Hoopa Reservation,” BLM California State Director Karen Mourtisen said in the release. “Members of the Tribe and the public will benefit from improved conditions well into the future.”
Forestry crews with the Hoopa Valley Tribe will help in efforts to support fire resilience on their ancestral homeland and include prairie and oak woodland restoration, hazardous fuels reduction and maintenance of past fuels treatment efforts the Tribe conducted, the release reported.
“The Hoopa Tribe is proud to coordinate with the Bureau of Land Management to conduct forest health activities in the Lacks Creek area within the Hoopa ancestral lands,” Tribal Vice Chairman Everett Colegrove Jr. said in the release. “Our forestry department has a long mutually beneficial working relationship with the BLM and the Tribe is proud to continue this relationship.”
Located in Humboldt County, the Lacks Creek Management Area is roughly 20 miles northeast of Eureka, according to the BLM website. The management area includes 8,673 acres of BLM managed public lands, with 7,377 acres within the Lacks Creek watershed and the rest consisting of connecting properties.
The Hoopa Valley Tribe is a "Tribal government dedicated to protecting and promoting the interests of the Hoopa Valley Indians, and cooperating and collaborating with federal, state and local government."
More than $4 million in CAL FIRE Forest Health Program grants have been provided by the BLM Arcata Field Office and affiliates to restore habitat and renovate public recreation access to the property, the BLM release reported.
