RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Rancho Murieta's wildfire-preparedness efforts have earned a new state designation that could help residents secure insurance discounts and strengthen the community’s ability to compete for future wildfire-related grant funding.

The Rancho Murieta Regional Fire Safe Council learned June 2 that Rancho Murieta was expected to receive designation as a California Fire Risk Reduction Community, a status subsequently approved by the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection on June 17.

Council members also received updates on the development of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and Sacramento County’s Wildfire Resilience Plan, reviewed the May 2 Wildfire Community Preparedness Day event, and learned that Rancho Murieta’s Cal Fire Forest Health Grant project has been completed. The council held its quarterly meeting via Zoom.

Fire Risk Reduction Community Designation Approved

Registered professional forester Phyllis Banducci told the council she recently learned that Rancho Murieta’s application for inclusion on California’s Fire Risk Reduction Community List had been approved pending final action by the Board of Forestry.

Banducci said she became aware of the program after a Rancho Murieta homeowner asked whether the community was included on the state list. After researching the designation, she learned that applications must be submitted through a public agency with defined boundaries. Working with Rancho Murieta Community Services District Interim General Manager Amelia Wilder, Banducci completed the application on the district’s behalf.

“I did not know that existed,” Banducci said.

Banducci told the council she expected the Board of Forestry to approve the designation at its June 17 meeting. In a June 19 email to the River Valley Times, she confirmed that the board approved the 2026 Fire Risk Reduction Community List and that Rancho Murieta was included through the Rancho Murieta Community Services District. The designation becomes effective July 1 when the state posts the updated list.

“It’ll give us more of an insurance discount, or another box to check for those people who have trouble with their insurance, just like Firewise does for us,” Banducci said. “It’s not a huge discount, but it’s a little bit, so every little bit helps.”

Banducci said the designation also recognizes that “our community is engaged, that we’re more resilient.”

Summing up the effort, she added, “Here we go with another feather in our cap.”

Banducci said she plans to work with both the Rancho Murieta Association and Community Services District to publicize the designation and make documentation available to residents seeking insurance discounts.

RMA Maintenance Director Troy Schaffner thanked Banducci for pursuing the designation and said the association would help publicize it through its communication channels.

Community Wildfire Protection Plan Takes Shape

The council also received an update on the development of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, commonly known as a CWPP.

The effort is being led by Brenna Howell, Fire Safe Council coordinator for the Sacramento County Office of Emergency Services. Howell said she has asked Banducci to assist in developing the plan, drawing on her experience overseeing Rancho Murieta’s recently completed Cal Fire Forest Health Grant project.

“I’ve just asked Phyllis to come on and help me with completing the community wildfire protection plans,” Howell said.

Howell said completion of the CWPP will require a series of public outreach meetings before the plan can be reviewed and approved by Cal Fire.

“We’re going to try to get the CWPP done before the end of 2026. That’s a goal that we have,” Howell said.

Howell described the CWPP as one of her top priorities because it will serve as the Fire Safe Council’s roadmap for future projects and funding opportunities.

Banducci said the plan will help identify wildfire-preparedness priorities before grant opportunities arise.

“If you’re going to get grant funding, you have to identify all these items. We can’t just take a shotgun approach,” Banducci said.

She said potential priorities could include home-hardening projects, hazardous tree work, vegetation management and other wildfire-mitigation efforts.

Howell and Banducci also reported they are working on maps and other technical materials required for the plan, including a review of the Fire Safe Council’s planning boundaries.

Wildfire Resilience Plan Update

Council members also discussed Sacramento County’s Wildfire Resilience Plan, an effort to improve evacuation routes and address infrastructure vulnerabilities along Jackson Highway that were exposed by recent wildfires and the New Year’s flooding of 2023. Members noted that public meetings on the project were slated for June 24 and 25, and said they will continue to follow the study as additional analysis is completed.

The Fire Safe Council was instrumental in helping secure funding for the project and continues to advocate for improvements that would strengthen emergency access and evacuation capabilities for Rancho Murieta and surrounding communities.

Preparedness Day Lessons Learned

Council members also reviewed the May 2 Wildfire Community Preparedness Day held in the Tractor Supply parking lot in Rancho Murieta.

Howell said participating organizations included Cal Fire, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, Rancho Murieta Association staff, and the Fire Safe Council. “We had a good support system from partnering agencies,” Howell said.

She estimated attendance at approximately 70 people and said organizers had hoped to attract a broader South County audience.

One lesson learned, Howell said, was that many Rancho Murieta families were attending youth sporting events at Stonehouse Park the same day.

“Everybody was up at the ball fields at Stone House Park, and we could have probably seen a thousand people that day,” she said.

As a result, Howell suggested moving the event back inside the gates next year, where previous preparedness events have drawn larger crowds.

Council member Don Kurtz, who volunteered at the event with his wife Genevieve, said they “had a very good time” and felt the event was “absolutely worth the effort.”

Karen Hoberg said the Tractor Supply location worked well from a logistics standpoint because participating organizations were located close together but agreed attendance had been stronger at events held inside Rancho Murieta.

The council generally supported exploring a return to an in-community location for next year’s event.

Cal Fire Grant Completed

Banducci reported that the $4.5 million Cal Fire Forest Health Grant project is now officially complete.

“I think I closed it out last time, but the Cal Fire Forest Health Grant is done,” she said. “I sent off all my final paperwork in March.”

The grant funded fuel-reduction work on 950 acres of woodlands in and around Rancho Murieta to reduce wildfire risk and improve forest health.

Discussion then turned to long-term maintenance of areas treated under the Cal Fire Grant. While Banducci said the fuel-reduction work has left the community in good shape for now, she expects maintenance will be needed within the next few years as vegetation regrows and oak trees continue to die naturally.

“I definitely think in the next couple of years we will need some maintenance,” Banducci said. “We do lose, I say, three to five oak trees a year, so we just need another year or two, and we will have maintenance.”

Council members discussed potential funding sources for that future work, including watershed-related grants and assistance programs. Banducci said the environmental review completed for the original project should help streamline future maintenance efforts within the treated areas.

Council members expressed hope that Rancho Murieta’s new Fire Risk Reduction Community designation, continued Firewise participation and eventual completion of the Community Wildfire Protection Plan will strengthen the community’s ability to compete for future wildfire-preparedness funding.