LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake Area Rotary Club Association, one of the groups leading fundraising efforts for Lake County's fire recovery, has made a large donation to the effort to reforest areas devastated by the 2015 wildland fires.

On Nov. 18, the Lake County Resource Conservation District received a donation totaling nearly $36,000 from the Lake Area Rotary Club Association, or LARCA.

This funding will allow the district to take delivery of 100,000 conifer seedlings that have been grown to transplant size by the El Dorado Resource Conservation District for reforestation of areas ravaged by wildfire in 2015.

Delivery to Lake County is expected in January or February, weather permitting, with distribution to private landowners in the burned-over area during the following six weeks.

The district also expects to reserve several thousand seedlings to replant portions of Trailside Park near Middletown.

Nearly all the trees in the park, a popular recreational destination for hikers and equestrians and for many years the location of the EcoArts sculpture walk, were burned in the Valley fire.

Although most of the oaks are regenerating strongly from their bases, conifer regeneration is spotty and limited.

The replanting project will allow restoration of a species mix similar to that prevailing in the past.

Volunteers from Rotary, local high schools and the community will be enlisted to plant the seedlings under the supervision of a forester employed by the Resource Conservation District.

LARCA is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization comprised of the four Rotary Clubs in Lake County: Lakeport, Kelseyville, Clearlake and Middletown. 

The Fire Relief Committee was formed just two days after the outbreak of the Valley fire and to date has raised more than $900,000 with nearly $625,000 distributed so far to the businesses, individuals and communities affected by the fires Lake County wildfires.

These figures include Clayton fire efforts that have raised approximately $120,000 to date.

As has previously been reported, Lake County Resource Conservation District’s reforestation projects have also benefited from donations from #LakeCountyRising, a collaborative the Lake County Winegrape Commission, the Lake County Winery Association, and the Lake County Wine Alliance, Damon and Jaime Matthews, owners of Walnut Creek Fireplace, and Mike Steen of Coyote Ridge Farms in Guerneville.

To learn more or to donate to LARCA, visit www.larca5130.org .

For more information about the Lake County Resource Conservation District, visit www.lakercd.org .