Adaptive Planning and Prioritization Framework
About the Framework
The effective and equitable allocation of funding resources requires a multi-scale prioritization framework that begins with spatial analysis and modeling at the regional scale, integrated with state and federal objectives, and incorporates local knowledge and data from the North Coast region’s Tribes, watershed groups, NGOs, landowners, and local agencies. NCRP relies on an ongoing, adaptive process for landscape-scale and localized prioritization of actions and projects to enhance watershed, forest, and wildland resilience, reduce hazardous fuel loading, achieve biodiversity and climate goals, and protect and enhance the health, safety, and economic vitality of North Coast communities. This Adaptive Planning and Prioritization Framework relies on a set of goals, objectives, and criteria that reflect Tribal, federal, state, and local priorities, principles, and objectives. This framework is applied to all aspects of NCRP planning and implementation efforts.
Regional Assessments, Spatial Analysis, and Modeling
The framework includes spatial analysis and modeling to provide screening-level data that informs development and prioritization of regional and local projects. Many biophysical processes and features of the North Coast region - including hazardous fuel loads, wildfire frequency and severity, climate change impacts, watershed and ecosystem processes, habitats, and wildlife corridors - are operating at spatial and temporal scales much larger than those of individual projects. Similarly, social, economic, and political features and processes - including historic inequities in resource allocation, collaborative infrastructure, workforce, organizational capacity, funding, and permitting - operate at scales beyond individual organizations. Given that the North Coast region served by NCRP is over 19,000 square miles (12% of California), it is important to use regional assessments, data, and analyses to understand region-scale and long-term processes, trends, and features as a way to inform investment priorities.
NCRP regularly collects, develops, and analyzes information at the regional scale – including data derived from remote sensing (i.e., LIDAR and imagery) and data maintained by Tribal, federal, state, and local partners. NCRP intentionally aligns with partner’s data, analysis, modeling, and assessment processes to ensure consistency across boundaries. All data collected by the NCRP are made available to the public via the NCRP Data page . The following geospatial assessments were developed at the regional scale to support the development of this Regional Priority Plan, and to help screen and prioritize priority actions and projects.
- Communities at Risk (CAR): The Communities at Risk analysis identifies which North Coast communities are most at risk from wildfire. These data, along with maps of the fireshed for each community, will be used to inform the prioritization of important projects focused on public safety and human asset protection.
- Quantitative Wildfire Risk Assessment (QWRA): The QWRA produces maps that show the potential impacts of fire in a given area. By modeling burn probability and severity as well as the location of resources and assets, the model shows where fire is predicted to have an overall positive effect (i.e., by reducing hazardous fuels in a fire-adapted landscape) or negative effect (i.e., by damaging community assets and infrastructure). In locations where a negative effect is predicted, projects designed to reduce burn probability or severity and to protect community infrastructure, assets, and resources will be prioritized.
- Potential Operational Delineations (PODs): The PODs assessment provides potential strategic fuel break maps, which will help to prioritize fuel break projects across the North Coast region. The PODs data products, in combination with the QWRA results, will inform decisions about where on the landscape to suppress fire and where to manage fire for resource objectives.
- Mechanical Treatment Feasibility (MTF): This assessment develops spatially explicit rankings of mechanical treatment feasibility based on metrics like property ownership, road accessibility, and slope, allowing screening-out of areas where mechanical treatment is not feasible.
Indigenous Science, TEK, and Local Expertise
Once regional assessments have been conducted, local, on-the-ground knowledge and expertise are integrated with these regional data to refine, ground-truth, and enhance them. NCRP relies on the leadership and expertise of Tribal Leadership Council and Technical Peer Review Committee members and an array of Tribal partners for the integration of Indigenous Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). North Coast Tribes have been stewarding these lands since time immemorial and have a wealth of knowledge about the region’s ecological and cultural values and the best ways to protect and enhance them. Other local and regional subject-area experts, landowners, watershed groups, agency staff, and partners contribute their expertise to refining and ground-truthing spatial data and models, and to identifying and prioritizing projects. This local expertise is integrated with region-scale data to ensure an objective, big-picture perspective of the entire region and to update and refine the regional assessments to better represent local conditions, needs, and priorities.
Identification of Strategic Actions and Projects
NCRP aims to synchronize national and statewide planning priorities with local planning efforts to guide regional planning and project development. Tribal, federal, and state priorities are identified and scaled to the North Coast region. NCRP identifies and reviews local-scale data, plans, and assessments and conducts interviews and meetings with partners throughout the region. Project solicitations provide information from project sponsors on local needs and priorities. Demonstration projects provide an opportunity to test and learn from innovative solutions at the local scale.
NCRP leadership, staff, and technical experts refine and assess strategic actions and projects. The NCRP Leadership Council, Technical Peer Review Committee (TPRC), and Ad Hoc committees review, evaluate, and rank identified priority projects and strategies. The Project Tracker tool represents the collected regional pipeline of priority projects and actions.
Shared Vision: Collaborative and Multi-Objective Planning
In collaboration with Tribal, federal, state, regional, and local partners, NCRP develops adaptive, multi-objective plans that outline long-term, region-wide strategies for community and ecosystem resilience. Plans incorporate the strategic actions and projects identified through local expertise, scaling of federal and state agency priorities, and input from technical experts. The NCRP Leadership Council, TPRC, Ad Hoc Committee, technical experts, and partners review plans on an ongoing basis and provide feedback that is used to further refine plans and adapt strategies and actions to new knowledge and changing conditions. Robust public review is a substantial part of the planning process, ensuring that plans reflect the priorities of the North Coast community. Plans are adaptive and are explicitly intended to be implemented; they are continuously updated to reflect new information and lessons learned.
Prioritization, Evaluation, and Selection: Projects and Strategies
Once projects and strategic actions are identified, they are prioritized, evaluated, and selected for funding based on a variety of factors, including the degree to which they achieve NCRP goals and objectives, the degree to which they increase the pace, scope, and scale of North Coast regional resilience, their relative importance in phasing of plan implementation, and the priorities of partner agencies or entities providing funding, as well as an array of socio-economic criteria related to equity and local capacity enhancement.
NCRP has an established project prioritization, evaluation, and selection process which is regularly updated, and relies on objective regional-scale information as well as a diversity of criteria informed by biophysical and socio-economic information and partner agency goals and objectives. NCRP’s process for project evaluation and selection relies on an objective ranking and scoring process that is shared with project sponsors and the general public, and is conducted via multiple steps to ensure equity and transparency at each phase.
The first step typically involves a formal Request for Proposals open to all interested parties, followed by independent ranking and quantitative scoring by individual NCRP Technical Peer Review Committee members, then a multi-day meeting to discuss the results of this scoring and ranking process, culminating in a recommended slate of projects from the TPRC to the North Coast Leadership Council, who considers and votes on the slate recommended by the TPRC during a Leadership Council meeting that is open to the public, and conducted under Brown Act rules.
Many projects in this Plan will be funded or partially funded outside of the NCRP process, with project sponsors applying for funding directly to local, state, federal, and other funding agencies and entities.
Technical Assistance and Capacity Investments
Technical assistance and capacity investments are foundational to the successful identification, design, prioritization, and implementation of projects and strategic actions. The North Coast region is severely economically disadvantaged and has a large number of Tribes and other underrepresented and underserved groups and communities with limited resources. Therefore, investments in capacity and technical assistance enhance the ability of partners and project sponsors to equitably access state, federal, and other funding resources that might not otherwise be available to the communities that need them most.
Capacity assessments are undertaken in a variety of ways, including evaluation of census tract and other socio-economic data to understand the regional context and apply this information as a screening tool, followed by interviews, surveys, solicitations, and meetings with local groups to understand their capacity and technical assistance needs, challenges, and recommended solutions. These regional screenings and local high-resolution data are combined to develop regional and local strategies for enhancing capacity and guiding the provision of technical assistance to target and enhance the effectiveness of investments.
Plan and Project Implementation
Regional goals are achieved through ongoing implementation of this Plan. Identified projects and strategies are continually refined, while new projects are regularly identified via RFPs, community engagement, as well as by gathering projects and other priorities from partner plans. As needed, technical assistance is provided to project sponsors who meet the criteria of being economically disadvantaged or historically underrepresented.
NCRP supports plan and project implementation throughout the region by seeking local, state, federal, and philanthropic funding for the strategic actions and projects identified in the Plan. Permitting and regulatory compliance are completed by project sponsors as part of the implementation process, with assistance from NCRP technical assistance providers if needed. Throughout the implementation process, project status is tracked and updated in Project Tracker . Project Tracker also serves as a regional hub for agencies and organizations to see what is happening in the region, learn from other groups’ projects, and identify potential areas for collaboration.
Performance Reporting and Metrics
Performance metrics for individual projects are established based on NCRP goals and objectives, NCRP principles, and federal and state agency goals and objectives, both general and program specific. Project performance and metrics are measured and tracked in Project Tracker. Project Tracker also serves as a regional hub for agencies and organizations to see what is happening in the region, learn from other groups’ projects, and identify potential areas for collaboration.
In addition to tracking the performance of individual projects, NCRP aggregates project performance data to assess benefits at the regional scale. The Project Tracker Accomplishments Dashboard provides a regional overview of the economic, social, ecological, and cultural benefits provided by NCRP implementation projects.
Click on a goal to the right to view its performance measures.