FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The beta version of a dashboard that will display information regarding landscape resilience projects in California was launched by the Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force (Task Force) on Tuesday, according to officials.

Officials say the first-of-its-kind Interagency Treatment Dashboard displays the size and location of state and federal forest and landscape resilience projects in California.

According to officials, the dashboard offers a one-stop-shop to access data, provide transparency, and align the efforts of more than a dozen agencies to build resilient landscapes and communities in California.

The dashboard also reports treatment activities such as prescribed fire, targeted grazing, uneven-aged timber harvest, mechanical and hand fuel reduction, and tree planting. Users can sort treatment by region, county, land ownership, and more.

“Now we can track our progress like never before through this public Interagency Dashboard,” said California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot, co-chair of the Task Force. “It identifies where projects are happening, what kind of work is happening in a given location, and how much overall resilience work is being done. It’s one more step forward in building a comprehensive, durable approach to increasing our wildfire resilience in years to come.” 

The dashboard compiles data from a broad range of organizations and government departments, many of which officials say have different reporting requirements guiding how they capture information.

Some individual reporting tools and data will sometimes differ from this statewide snapshot, but the dashboard brings these different reporting approaches together as a single and streamlined reporting tool.

“This dashboard delivers a new tool for collaboration among agencies and communities,” said U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester Jennifer Eberlien, who co-chairs the Task Force with Secretary Crowfoot. “Having access to treatment information in this format will allow us to coordinate landscape scale activities aimed at restoring and enhancing ecosystem resilience.”

According to officials, the dashboard is an important step to increase the pace and scale of statewide actions addressing Californian’s wildfire crisis and is a key deliverable of the Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, issued by the Task Force in January 2021.

“It takes everyone to create a more wildfire-resilient California and this dashboard reflects the strides being made to get us there,” said CAL FIRE Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler. “This dashboard shows how far we’ve come, the significant efforts underway, and our firm commitment to future work. This new tool will also provide first responders a snapshot of where treatment has occurred to help inform fire suppression efforts.”

The beta version of the dashboard will continue to be refined to include additional data, including projects by local and tribal entities, along with revisions based on public feedback, officials say.

The official launch is expected in spring 2024 with more complete data on projects implemented in 2022.