How one RCD forester is scaling from single landowners to landscape-level action.

by the Sonoma Resource Conservation District

Jason Wells never thought he’d return to Sonoma County, California, as no forestry positions existed. But after the 2017 Tubbs Fire tore through Santa Rosa, destroying over 5,000 homes, everything changed. Not only is Jason back where he grew up, he is busier than ever. His role as the Director of Forestry with the Sonoma Resource Conservation District (RCD) has evolved beyond just writing Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) management plans. Today, his work resembles community and urban forestry in the wildland–urban interface. Following the devastation of 2017 and a succession of subsequent fire seasons, his focus now spans fuels reduction, forest health, community-scale planning, and prescribed fire.

Wells, a Registered Professional Forester educated at Humboldt State, says the frequency and scale of recent fires fundamentally changed the work.

“In 2017 both ends of the state experienced wind-driven fires burning right into towns,” Wells recalled.

Public interest in proactive management soared, and the RCD’s first NACD Technical Assistance (TA) grant created a dedicated forester position to meet the surge in landowner questions.

“I saw the job announcement when they put that out,” Wells said. “It was a great opportunity to come back to Sonoma County.”

From one parcel to many

Early on, Wells helped landowners sign up for EQIP, as 90% of forest land in Sonoma County is privately owned. But fragmented ownership—60% of forested ownerships are under 50 acres—meant that thinning or fuel breaks on one 40-acre property would be overwhelmed by heat and embers from untreated neighbors.

Wells found himself repeating the same advice to property owners: “Talk to your neighbors, organize, and think more in terms of topography, like accessible ridgelines, than property lines.”

That led Wells and partners to pursue larger, multi-owner projects. In 2024, they submitted a nearly $7 million proposal to CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program that assembled roughly 20 landowners across 5 focus areas, covering a 1,300-acre footprint and multiple treatment entries. While the first attempt wasn’t funded, the coalition plans to reapply in January 2026.

Matching the “why,” the “how,” and the “how to pay”

Wells frames his program around three gaps: why work matters, how to do it safely and effectively, and how to pay for it.

California’s wildfires have changed the why in Sonoma County. The old management of forested landscapes for timber harvest has transitioned to new efforts in home hardening and wildfire prevention, taking on a sense of urgency.

In terms of how to do it safely and effectively, Sonoma County’s prescribed burn culture is growing. Partner organization All Hands Ecology helps residents become more comfortable with prescribed fire, from pile-burn workshops to broadcast burns after initial treatments.

On the funding side, the North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NB FIP), a four-county RCD collaboration, mirrors EQIP with forestry-focused incentives for thinning, planting, and pruning. The RCD is now exploring ways to braid NB FIP dollars with EQIP so out-of-pocket costs to landowners are manageable.

Markets remain a stubborn barrier. Outside of redwood sawlogs, options are thin. Douglas-fir often pencils out to break, even after regulatory and hauling costs. That limits the ability to offset treatment costs through utilization, increasing reliance on grants—an unsustainable model in the long run, Wells notes.

Scaling up

To move at neighborhood scale, the RCD hired a community engagement specialist with deep experience facilitating contentious resource issues. Their task is to help Fire Safe Councils and Firewise™ communities mature from interest groups into project-ready partners with technical chops, environmental compliance pathways, and shovel-ready priorities.

Wells is also developing programmatic environmental documents to streamline permitting for recurring, low-impact work—a topic other districts increasingly ask about.

What TA made possible

NACD TA funding stands out for its flexibility. Reporting systems have shifted over the years and can be murky, Wells said, but the freedom to meet a community’s evolving needs, while still hitting outreach and planning metrics, has been pivotal. That flexibility helped the Sonoma RCD expand beyond plan-writing into coalition-building, burn training, and multi-owner project design.

As Wells noted, “This grant has always been flexible enough that I can connect the dots of meeting my deliverables while also providing technical assistance to my community in a way that works for them.”

Advice for RCDs getting started

For other conservation districts who are launching or expanding similar work, Wells offers some advice:

“If you can connect the why with the how—and provide funds to get it done—people will do the work,” Wells says. “The challenge is scaling that across many small parcels.”

His other tips include:

• Build your network early. Know your NRCS state forester, University Extension staff, land trusts, county staff, and Fire Safe Councils. Partnerships unlock projects and policy windows.
• Think landscape, not parcel. Prioritize the right topography, like accessible ridgelines; design projects neighbors can join and maintain.
• Pair education with incentives. Connect the why (risk and ecosystem benefits) with the how (prescriptions, burn culture) and the how to pay (stacked funding, grants, modest landowner match).
• Streamline compliance. Explore programmatic documents (e.g., CAL VTP), so you can move from pilots to programs.

About the interviewee: Jason Wells is a Registered Professional Forester with the Sonoma Resource Conservation District. He previously worked in private timber on California’s North Coast and now focuses on fuels reduction, community-scale planning, and prescribed fire in Sonoma County.