To the Future Governor of California:
California has wildfire solutions.
As the next governor, you can make them a reality.
The next Governor will help shape California’s response to one of the state’s most urgent and costly challenges. Immediate, sustained investment in wildfire resilience is essential to protecting communities, stabilizing costs, and reducing long-term risk.
No Californian has been spared from the impacts of catastrophic wildfires. Wildfires destroy our homes and communities, spread toxic smoke, and increase our cost of living. We don’t have to live from crisis to crisis—fire is a natural part of California ecosystems, and we have the solutions to live with and manage fire effectively.
By fully funding and implementing California’s wildfire resilience strategy, we can protect the health of our landscapes and communities.
In crisis mode, responding to wildfire costs the state billions of dollars every year.
In comparison, investments to reduce wildfire risk are extremely cost effective.
Action and investment are needed now. If our state leaders don’t act and see this through, all Californians will foot the bill.
Wildfires Cost Californians
Wildfires cost California $117 billion in economic damages every year, including property damage, lost income, business interruptions, and healthcare costs. Wildfire risk is also driving up electricity rates and insurance premiums.
Solutions Save Communities, Landscapes, and Money
Wildfire solutions reduce the risk – and the cost – of catastrophic wildfire. Research suggests that fully implementing California’s wildfire resilience strategy would cost closer to $2.5 – $3 billion a year, from a combination of local, state, federal, private, and philanthropic sources.
Our Coalition is united around solutions. Addressing the wildfire crisis is a matter of implementation-we know what works, and the state has an action plan. But we can’t execute it without adequate funding.
Dan Porter
Forest Strategy Lead, The Nature Conservancy
California has a thoughtful action plan to build fire resilience, but we need to work collaboratively to secure funding at all levels to implement this plan.
Steve Frisch
President, Sierra Business Council
For every dollar invested in wildfire prevention, more money is saved in avoided disaster response, recovery, and long-term economic disruption. Investment in wildfire resilience is a financially responsible path toward protecting communities and public resources from economic loss
Adrian Covert
VP of Public Policy, Bay Area Council
We have the solutions to redefine California’s relationship to fire and move from crisis response to wildfire readiness in our landscapes and communities. What we need now is sustained funding to implement these solutions.
Michael Jarred
Associate Director, The Nature Conservancy
Investing in wildfire resilience isn’t just an environmental imperative; it’s a proven way to protect our communities and safeguard the air we depend on.
Michelle Decker
President and CEO, Inland Empire Community Foundation
It’s imperative that we scale funding for wildfire resilience to the $2.5 to $3 billion per year that we need to meet California’s wildfire resilience goals. We know what to do to safely live with wildfire, we just need the tools to get the job done.
Emily Blackmer
Director of Government Affairs, Sierra Business CouncilWhy invest in wildfire solutions?
Over 50,000 Californians have died from wildfire smoke impacts since 2008.
Wildfires can cause dangerous levels of air pollution that cause health problems like asthma for Californians, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Wildfires cost California $117 billion per year in economic losses.
Investments to reduce wildfire risk are extremely efficient—they save at least $6 for every $1 invested and create tens of thousands of jobs.
Wildfires are one of California’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Nature-based solutions are the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions and mitigate climate risks like wildfires, extreme heat, and flooding.
Severe wildfires damage our landscapes and pollute our water sources.
With better preparation, fires don’t just become less of a problem—they become a solution. Fires can support our natural ecosystems, maintain our water resources, increase biodiversity, and reduce the intensity of future wildfires.
What are wildfire solutions?
Strategic Fuel Breaks
Managing vegetation can slow fires down and protect people, homes, and critical infrastructure like hospitals, schools, and evacuation routes.
Landscape Restoration and Stewardship
Restoring landscapes to a healthy condition reduces the risk to communities, protects our water supplies, and safeguards California’s special places and biodiversity.
Ignition Reduction
Reducing human-caused fire starts and managing fuels along roads and powerlines can prevent fires from happening in the first place.
Home Safety
Retrofitting buildings and removing nearby flammable materials reduces the chance of homes and other buildings catching on fire.
Frequently Asked Questions
The goal of the Coalition is to secure the resources necessary—across local, state, and federal levels—to achieve California’s wildfire resilience goals and protect the health of our landscapes and communities.
Wildfires are a natural part of many California landscapes. But due to a number of factors including fire suppression, land management practices, and climate change, the intensity and frequency of wildfires have reached dangerous levels. With better preparation and management, our landscapes and communities can once again experience fire as a natural and beneficial process.
Funding the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan is the most important way for us to turn the corner on the wildfire crisis. With sustained investment and ongoing partnership across the public and private sector, we can prepare our communities and landscapes to live with and manage fire.
It will take an estimated $2.5 – $3 billion a year for 10 years to implement the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan and significantly improve management and readiness. This is a significant investment, but it is substantially less than the cost of regularly responding to catastrophic fires.
The state has spent approximately $4 billion this decade on efforts to prepare for wildfire and reduce risk. This includes $200 million per year in Cap-and-Invest funds, one-time General Fund surplus, and investments from the voter-approved Prop 4.
California’s natural and working lands are a major source of carbon emissions, principally in the form of wildfires. We can’t meet our climate goals without addressing wildfire.
Investing a significant proportion of Cap-and-Invest funding in wildfire resilience is consistent with California’s overarching climate strategy, as well as the state’s specific Nature-Based Solutions Climate Targets. Wildfire resilience should be completed by additional, dedicated investments in other activities across California’s natural and working lands to tackle climate change.
According to Headwaters Economics, “…home losses can be avoided by building or retrofitting homes to wildfire-resistant standards, especially when property owners combine that construction with wildfire-resistant landscaping and upkeep. Researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research found 43% fewer homes were destroyed when built to wildfire-resistant standards in a large sample of California wildfires. Other economic impact studies estimate that 60% of wildfire-resistant homes survive wildfires.”
The Wildfire Solutions Coalition supports adapting communities to wildfires, which includes the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force’s actions on home hardening. In addition to the actions called for in the Task Force’s Action Plan, the Coalition is exploring home hardening strategies, such as financing, rebates, and community-based outreach, education, and technical assistance, to increase the wildfire resilience of homes in high or very high wildfire hazard areas in a cost-effective manner. Doing so also offers homeowners an opportunity to manage home insurance and energy costs.
