Who We Are
About the Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership
Measure C passed with 70.8% voter approval throughout Marin County.
The MWPA (JPA) is a coalition of 17 fire department jurisdictions supporting development and implementation of a comprehensive wildfire prevention and emergency preparedness initiative. It is funded through a parcel tax with an annual budget of about $19 million a year for 10 years.
Key elements of this program include:
• Vegetation Management
• Wildfire Detection & Evacuation Program Improvements
• Grants
• Public Education
• Defensible Space Evaluations
• Local Wildfire Prevention Mitigation
The MWPA Ecologically Sound Practices (ESP) Partnership
The ESP Partnership is a collaboration between the fire authorities and climate and environmental organizations of Marin to mitigate the risk of wildfires wisely. The coalition works as advisors to the fire professionals, defining best environmental practices to guide the implementation of the wildfire prevention plans and offering expertise and recommendations on specific projects. It serves as a community resource.
This partnership highlights the talent within our own community and the importance of working together to achieve common goals in extraordinary ways. The ESP Partnership allows a forum to:
• provide expertise about ecologically sound best practices;
• bring questions, concerns and solutions to the table;
• coordinate communication with the fire professionals;
• reduce redundancy of efforts;
• develop solutions across areas of expertise.
ESP has broad based membership, including experts from county government, non-profit community, specialists on native plants, gardening, compost and sequestration, tree services, policy leaders - over 70 participants so far (see ESP Roster). They have met once as a group on January 8, 2020 (See attached Report on January 8 meeting).
Ecologically Sound Practices for Vegetation Management Practices was approved by the Marin County Board of Directors on June 16, 2022 when the MWPA Board voted to accept the document as a non-binding guidance for MWPA activities. With this vote, The Partnership achieved its highest priority.
ESP working groups:
-ATC advisory (prior to ATC meetings)
- ESP Practices monitoring (updating as relevant information becomes available)
- Planning and education (future events, education/training)
Environmental and Climate Subject Matter Committees
The ESP is organizing around 3 subject areas based on concepts developed at the January 8 2020 start up meeting. (see attached ESP Roster)
1. Vegetation Management and Habitat Protection: this group will be focused on developing best management practices for fuel reduction projects in wildlands, provide subject matter expertise for project development, and environmental regulatory compliance.
2. Carbon Resource Management: This group will be focused on managing green waste and other issues related to conserving carbon. A biomass recovery study endorsed by Drawdown: Marin is an ESP project. A biomass recovery study endorsed by Drawdown: Marin (now MarinCAN) was an ESP project. 2020 Carbon Resource Management Topics. In June, 2022, the Marin Biomass Project
3. Defensible Space/Bio-diverse, Fire Smart, Water Wise: This team focuses on providing best practices and ecological messages related to defensible space with target audiences including general public, residents, landscape professionals, and defensible space inspectors.
Note: Some of these subject matter committees will engage with community groups currently involved on work related to the subject, such as the Marin Biomass Recovery Study and a committee working on ecological healthy fire wise landscape. Other ESP-identified key issues such as general public education and inspector and landscape professional training will be folded into the subject areas above. Home Hardening Committee will be started at a later date.
ESP Steering Committee
Steering committee guides policy, stays informed through coordinating with issue committees and communicating actions to the greater Partnership, and interacts with other community groups, coalitions, consortia, municipalities and special districts.
Joint Powers Agreement Creating the MWPA
Steering Committee Members:
Fire Service:
Jason Weber, Marin County and Ross Valley Fire Chief
Bill Tyler, Novato Fire Protection District Chief,
Rich Shortall, FireSAFE MARIN
Climate and Environmental Community:
Belle Cole, ESP Leader, Organizing for Action
Bill Carney, Sustainable San Rafael
Mike Swezy, Marin Conservation League
Larry Minikes, Marin Conservation League
Marin Conservation League
Provides administrative support through hosting meetings and access to its broad committee structure.