Thumbnail photo: Del Norte Search and Rescue volunteers in May returned to an area where a Smith River woman went missing while picking mushrooms in January 2024. | Photo courtesy of Del Norte Search and Rescue
An earlier authorization will enable Del Norte County supervisors to award federal Title III dollars to Search and Rescue as well as the Gasquet Fire Protection District, according to Community Development Director Heidi Kunstal.
Kunstal had initially asked the Board to choose between the two agencies. But on Tuesday, she told supervisors that a different pot of Title III dollars might be more appropriate for Search & Rescue, which sought $45,361 to buy a Ford F150.
After assuring them that she would bring SAR’s application and a separate report back to the Board at its first meeting in August, supervisors directed Kunstal to proceed with processing Gasquet Fire Protection District’s request for $47,511.50 for Atlas 1200 repeaters and other equipment at the Camp Six communications site.
“The older Title III funds hadn’t been considered because we were trying to address the newer money, which has a timeline in which it has to be obligated,” Kunstal told Redwood Voice Community News via email Friday. “Unobligated funds have to be returned to the federal government.”
Now that the Board has made a decision, the county must inform the public via a notice in the newspaper of record and must also inform the Del Norte County Resource Advisory Committee. The public then has 45 days to comment before staff looks to supervisors for final approval.
Part of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, Title III dollars are for counties to use on federal forest lands. They can also be used for emergency services such as fire protection and planning as well as projects that improve forest health or enhance public safety, according to Kunstal’s staff report Tuesday.
Projects funded with Title III dollars Del Norte County received as part of the 2023 SRS reauthorization must be started by Sept. 30, 2025. Those funds — which totaled $414,633.63 for Del Norte, according to a July 8 staff report — must be spent by Sept. 30, 2026.
On Tuesday, Kunstal said there is more than $400,000 in Title III funds from the other pot she referred to.
“It’s the funding the Planning Division receives — $20,000 a year for planning purposes for natural resources planning within the forest,” she told supervisors. “It does have slightly different uses than the newer Title III funds, but looking at the language it looks like we could put together something that would work for Search and Rescue.”
On Friday, she said those funds came from an allocation Del Norte received from an SRS reauthorization in 2008.
Del Norte Search and Rescue, a division of the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, had planned to use Title III dollars to replace an older less reliable truck with a Ford F150 four-by-four to improve access to remote areas within the forest.
The Sheriff’s Office can be reimbursed for past costs associated with their public safety and search and rescue efforts within Six Rivers National Forest, Kunstal said Friday. This was something the agency was previously unaware of, she told Redwood Voice.
“The plan is to submit an application for the reimbursement of funds already spent in providing those services,” Kunstal said. “It is the choice of the department as to how they would spend this money. Likely, they would use it to purchase a new truck as there is an immediate need.”
Kunstal said that Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper had reminded her of the older Title III dollars after she submitted her Board report on Tuesday. Hooper had been the staff member tasked with processing Title III applications when he worked in the Community Development Department, Kunstal said.
“All of the newer Title III funds are now allocated through the four recent applications recommended by the Board,” she said. “If the SRS Act is reauthorized and the Board elects to receive Title III funding, future funds will be available.”
The Gasquet Fire Protection District plans to purchase new repeaters, antennas, feed lines and duplexers at Camp Six to replace existing equipment that has reached the end of its service life.
“Upon failure, the district will lose critical communication capabilities within the Six Rivers National Forest,” Kunstal’s staff report states.
Earlier this year, the Board of Supervisors awarded $99,485 in Title III funds to Del Norte Search and Rescue for the purchase of a Polaris ATV, river kayak, a rescue raft and other equipment for water and rope rescue.
Supervisors also awarded $254,506 to the Gasquet Fire Protection District for a new Type VI Fire Engine. The Board also awarded $61,355 to the Del Norte County Office of Emergency Services for an all-wheel-drive sport utility vehicle for use on and off federal lands.
