A Community Wildfire Protection Plan for the Cobb Mountain Area

The Cobb Mt. CWPP will focus on the 38,000 acre mountainous area defined by the Cobb Mt. Area Plan and the jurisdiction of the Cobb Area Council. This project area is home to around 3,000 people spread across a dozen small WUI subdivisions as well as isolated rural residential, agricultural and timber preserve holdings. The local water district has over 1300 accounts, including both residential and commercial customers. This area comprises nearly 24% of the South Lake Fire Protection District, one of the largest such Districts within California. All of the work done on this project will be shared closely with the rest of the District as well as with the full network of fire resilience programs in Lake County.

The Cobb Mt. Area includes

• The largest geothermal power generation installation in the United States, operated by Calpine Corporation. It is located in mostly undeveloped portions of the Cobb Mt. Area, with significant forested lands that have potential impact on local fire behavior.

• Boggs State Demonstration Forest - 3,500 acres, 99% of which burned in the Valley Fire. Ongoing restoration and study activities will be informed by the Plan. Forest management will be active participants in the Plan development.

• Two significant vernal pool properties, managed by The Nature Conservancy and the CA Dept of Fish and Wildlife, respectively, both of which play a role in the local forest ecology and will be affected by the Plan

• Over 14 critical water source properties managed by The Cobb Mt. Water District. The District management has been a strong partner in the Cobb Watershed Restoration project, and recognizes the important relationship between the watershed and the health of the forest ecosystem. The Plan will provide additional data and information for them.

• 263.45 total acres of Bureau of Land Management holdings that also abuts state lands and will be addressed by the Plan.

• A series of resort and retreat properties and golf courses, some with significant forest holdings. These partners will be affected by how the Plan sets management priorities, and will be consulted as the Plan is drafted.

• Other critical local infrastructure includes the Cobb Elementary School, three shopping areas in Cobb and Loch Lomond, three fire stations (Cobb, Loch Lomond, Kelseyville), and 2 churches

Past related projects that will receive added benefit:

• Lake County CWPP - adopted in October of 2023. The Cobb Mt. CWPP will be closely integrated with the county’s Plan, fleshing out targeted actions and locations only very broadly described currently.

• The Cobb Mountain Community Resilience and Development Strategy. Adopted by the Cobb Area Council in 2022, this Strategy calls directly for the development of a local fire resilience Plan and ties it to a comprehensive strategy of community development. The economic and workforce development components of this Plan will directly address community priorities articulated in the Strategy.

• Multiple landscape management projects have been underway since the 2015 Valley Fire, including individual home hardening, small-holding brush clearing and forest thinning, larger land holding fuels reduction projects and a series of medium sized control burn projects. All of these projects will benefit from the drafting of this new Plan by showing how they fit into the overall Cobb Mt. Area resilience strategy and by qualifying new projects for funding to extend their effectiveness

Present projects that will receive added benefit:

• The six Firewise Communities that are augmenting the site assessment teams will derive additional strategic understanding of their community fire resilience, and give them ways to attract more resident participation. New projects identified in the Plan will build on their efforts, and project public awareness may contribute to additional communities being formed.

• The Cobb Alert Network is a volunteer emergency radio relay network founded post-Valley Fire. Over 300 residents have been connected so far, and the CWPP will help encourage local residents to continue and build on the organizing efforts.

• Lions Club Community Center, established as a warming and cooling center, and disaster relief distribution center. A detailed CWPP will enhance attention on local preparation for mass emergency events.

• The Cobb Watershed Education and Restoration Program is a tribally guided program that involved local landowners in creek restoration projects. The Program is oriented to full ecosystem restoration and recognizes the critical relationship of the creek system with the health of the forest. The Plan will benefit this Program by raising local awareness of how the health and fire resilience of the forest is related to overall watershed health.

• All partners in this CWPP project will be enabled to promote fire resilience in their own areas by pointing to their participation in the project.

Future projects that will receive added benefit:

• This project will run concurrently with significant countywide planning efforts for the Lake County General Plan Update, and the County's Cobb Mt. Area Plan Update. This CWPP exercise will have strong synergies with the development of these Plans, especially focusing on Housing and Safety elements.

Overall landscape and land ownership that the project influences in addition to the defined project area:

• In addition to its lands in the Cobb Mt. area, Calpine Corporation also owns major adjacent forested acreage in neighboring Sonoma County (a total of 28,000 acres). The analysis and work done for this CWPP will provide important information for fire resilience planning in those additional areas as well.

Approximate number of structures that will benefit from the proposed action: 1037 as counted by the Cobb Water District, not including vacation homes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs)