Members of the RPP visit Point of Rocks project area
More than a year after devastating fires that ripped through the Los Angeles region, Inland Empire Community Foundation (IECF) continues to make strides with the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity (RFFC) program, which falls under the foundation’s Regional Priority Plan (RPP).
RPP acts as a community-informed roadmap, illuminating where the region needs to focus action, supports shared planning, and invites partners into coordinated efforts to reduce wildfire risk. Homeowners and residents can access interactive modules to determine how they can improve their property to minimize the risk of wildfire.
To be sure, the effort to build a safer future for regional communities and forests has never been timelier, and RFFC has been garnering more attention recently thanks to an IECF grant of more than $600,000 distributed to partners linked to RPP work.
David Hernandez, who coordinates the RFFC program at IECF, said he is optimistic about recent efforts, noting the uptick in key partnerships and strategies.
“These new partnerships add something valuable on the wildfire resiliency front we’re combating here,” Hernandez said. “In doing so, the RFFC program can also remain dedicated to collaborating with U.S. Forest Service representatives, CAL Fire representatives, and other land conservancy and land managers here in the region.”
One key goal is to reduce duplication efforts.
“That ties into a lot of people and organizations out there doing really good work in regard to home hardening and defensible spaces, and creating a wood chipping program,” Hernandez said. “All that good stuff is happening, but it’s not linked. Everybody’s kind of doing their stuff within their own silos. So, all those little pieces of organizations and land conservancy land… they all reside within two counties we’re responsible for,” Hernandez added. “We’re targeting these groups so we can all work together in unison and make sure we’re all in the same sheet of music.”
In that respect, the RFFC program works as a valuable coordinator of sorts simply because it doesn’t have boundaries like a resource conservation district or the U.S. Forest Service. Collectively, the program helps the region develop and implement priority plans for improving forest health and protecting communities from wildfires.
Initially, IECF was awarded a two-year block grant of $1.6 million, which acted as a flexible pool of resources to help Riverside and parts of San Bernardino to increase forest and fire resilience as changing climate patterns continued.
The RPP enhanced these efforts.
“It exists as a repository for all these projects and programs in the Inland Empire,” Hernandez added of the RPP. “That ultimately creates a total acre of projects, a kind of snapshot for the capital in Sacramento. It shows, ‘Hey, it costs X amount of dollars for all these programs to be implemented,’ so Sacramento understands how many dollars the Inland Empire needs to implement these projects.”
As the RPP and RFFC program head into spring, Hernandez feels they will be even more effective.
Interactive graphics assist homeowners in creating fire-safe property
“It will be more than just the professionals and all those organizations,” he said. “It will be much more community-based. It’s more accessible for ‘Joe Citizen’ to go in and ask, ‘Why do I keep hearing home hardening—I have no idea what that means.’ Or ‘defensible space.’ Now, the average citizen can come into the RPP and look on the other side of it with regard to community engagement.”
Home Hardening uses fire-resistant building materials and maintenance practices to protect homes from wildfire ignition, mostly caused by embers, direct flames, and even radiant heat.
Defensible Space is a safety zone that requires a 100-foot buffer of managed vegetation and cleared debris around a structure, which, in turn, slows wildfire spread, protects homes from embers, and reduces radiant heat.
That commitment to broader engagement extends to Tribal communities as well. Ariana Firebaugh Ornelas, Forestry Programs Administrator at IECF, works alongside Hernandez to ensure the RPP reflects the priorities and knowledge of Tribal partners across the region. It’s a dimension she sees as central to the plan’s long-term effectiveness.
“The RPP reflects our commitment to participating in ways that are aligned with and responsive to the priorities of Tribal communities,” Firebaugh Ornelas said. “This means investing in relationships, supporting engagement on Tribal partners’ terms, and doing our best to ensure that regional wildfire resilience efforts are rooted in trust, intentional, and inclusive.”
The RPP and RFFC program delves deeper into those details, which can be found on the dedicated website.
“We want to grow the RPP,” Hernandez said, “and it will be grown through an advisory committee. IECF will be directly supporting them laterally through future funding and other assistance that they need.”
Eugenie Bostrom
To lead that effort, IECF’s RFFC has appointed of Embracing the Bear as facilitator for the RPP Advisory Committee. Bostrom brings deep expertise in the region’s wildfire challenges and has been instrumental in advancing the Headwaters Resiliency Partnership on the San Bernardino National Forest, supported by the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District. The committee launched in March, with key milestones targeted for November 2026.
For Bostrom, the advisory committee represents an opportunity to turn regional coordination into something the rest of the state can learn from.
“The RPP Advisory Committee is designed to connect the people doing this work on the ground with the planning, funding, and decision-making that shapes it,” she shared. “Our goal by November 2026 is to have a working model that demonstrates what coordinated wildfire resilience looks like at the regional scale, so the Inland Empire can be a resource for other regions facing similar challenges.”
Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. The Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program supports a thriving natural world, one of the Vital Conditions of Health and Wellbeing.
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