Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)

The Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council is working to protect our community from the growing threat of wildfire.

JOIN US at our upcoming Virtual CWPP Public Workshops on May 31st.

May 16, 2023 – OVFSC and Range Management Advisory Committee: Prescribed Grazing Educational Workshop

Michael Leicht’s outfit implementing prescribed grazing at the Thacher School.

At the front pastures of the Besant Hill School, Cole Bush speaks on the ecological impacts of 3 years of prescribed grazing.

Tom Maloney of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy at the vernal pool at the Besant Hill School.

April 20, 2023 – OVFSC at Earth Day Farmers Market

Goats made guest appearances on Earth Day at the Farmers Market on April 20, 2023.

Range Management Committee and the Community-Supported Grazing Program Start Planning an Educational Workshop on Prescribed Grazing

Kristina Wolf, one of the Range Management Committee’s (RMAC) environmental scientists, drove down from Sacramento to meet with us to begin planning a prescribed grazing educational workshop to take place on May 16, 2023. We visited sites that have been grazed by OVFSC’s Community-Supported Grazing Program as potential educational venues.

The vernal pool at Besant Hill.

The edge of the Los Padres National Forest at The Thacher School.

RMAC’s Kristina Wolf, OVFSC staff and Community-Supported Grazing Program Partner, Kalli O’Connor, Michael Leicht, and Christopher Danch scout potential venues for a prescribed grazing workshop coming in May.

Community-Supported Grazing Program

Our Stakeholder Convening was a success!

This is an amazing project.  Your team is in their element and working on a wonderful project that can become a permanent part of the region’s stewardship and resiliency.  All the organizations that OVFSC has brought together are a positive perfect storm.  It is an honor to be associated with this project!

Charles Barth, Executive Director, Slow Food Ventura County

On June 25, 2021, about 60 key stakeholders attended to learn more about our Community-Supported Grazing was held at the lovely Ojai Retreat & Inn who graciously donated this great venue.  Our four-legged firefighters were on both sides of the Ojai Retreat and demonstrated prescribed grazing in action.  The California Fire Safe Council was there filming the event (soon to be posted here).

Many thanks to our great sponsors:

Ojai Retreat & Inn

Flying Embers

Topa Topa Brewing Company

Ojai Unified School District

• OVFSC received a $15,000 grant from Cienega Capital LLC and a $2,500 grant from the Briarwood Farm Foundation.
• OVFSC has been awarded a $13,000 grant from the State of California Listos! Program through the California Fire Safe Council. $10,000 of this grant is for tools and equipment. $3,000 is for community outreach and other program expenses.
• OVFSC was also awarded a branded pop-up, signage, media toolkit and other educational materials, and a customized tool trailer.
• OVFSC has been awarded a $15,000 grant from SCE through the California Fire Safe Council. The funds will be used for grazing fees, special events and community outreach and education.
• OVFSC has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the California Fire Foundation to support the Community-Supported Grazing Program. The funding will go to equipment and to supplement grazing expenses on our demonstration sites.
• OVFSC has partnered with Thacher School, Oak Grove School, Krishnamurti Foundation of America, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, and Besant Hill School to establish demonstration and pilot sites for the grazing program. Grazing began in April 2021. We are planning on events to involve and educate the public. The Ventura County Fire Protection District is fully supportive of our grazing program and will provide direct funding and in-kind contributions of hand crews, tools and equipment, GIS/Mapping support, and other technical assistance.

• 06/2022: Check out the highlight of our Community Supported Grazing Program published by the California Fire Safe Council: “Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council: Creating a transferable framework for community-supported prescribed grazing.” You’ll get to know more about our grazing program and its effectiveness as a wildfire prevention and mitigation tool. It also highlights our big vision goal to increase the scope and scale of the CSGP on an ongoing basis and achieve long-term sustainability for the program. One of the main goals is to establish a large-scale “Wildfire Intensity Reduction Zone” called the Ojai Valley Safety Corridor (the “Corridor”). The Corridor will be a fuel reduction zone that extends from Upper Ojai, around the Ojai Valley, and down the Ventura River Watershed. The planning team has done some preliminary work and expects these mapped areas of the Corridor to initially be approximately 3,000 acres. 
• 6/10/2022: Fieldmargin,’ a UK-based software company that helps farmers manage their businesses, highlights Ventura Brush Goats, a grazing business run by Michael Leicht who is one of our co-directors of the Community-Supported Grazing Program: “Fighting fire with goats: How Ventura Brush Goats uses fieldmargin to plan their grazing fire breaks”
• New press release – Announcing the Ventura County Wildfire Collaborative
• 8/27/2021: Here is a great short video which provides some exciting background and updates related to the OVFSC and the Community Supported Grazing Program. Must watch!

• The OVFSC got a nice mention in the recent edition of “Fire Lines” which is the official California Fire Foundation Newsletter.

• We have received our new custom tool trailer from the State of California Listos! Grant Program along with $10,000 to equip it with tools.

• Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council joins the Ojai 4th of July Parade.

• In 2010, OVFSC developed the first and only Ventura County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP).  The countywide CWPP is currently being updated through a collaboration between the four Fire Safe Council in Ventura County, led by Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council.  As part of that update process, local CWPPs will be developed for areas that are at greater risk from wildfire than other areas in the county, such as the Ojai Valley.   OVFSC is launching the development of the Ojai Valley CWPP in November with funding from the City of Ojai ($50,000), and the USDA State Fire Assistance program ($150,000).  The development of our local CWPP will require significant community involvement.  A dedicated web portal will be established to facilitate community involvement.  Please watch for updates regarding this important initiative.
• The recent CAL FIRE award will fund the following projects in the Ojai Valley:
  • Fine-Scale Risk Mapping and Data Dashboard
  • Wildfire Vulnerability and Evacuation Assessment
  • Outreach & Education Campaign
  • Home Hardening Resiliency Program

• Recent report states Ojai is in the top 1% for wildfire risk in the nation. Download the Ojai Wildfire Risk 2021 report here