Free wildfire and land services in Nevada County, California
28 programs in 11 categories, plus 6 local offices in Nevada County. Every listing names its source; ring ahead before you rely on one. Every local listing here was checked on or after 31 August 2026.
Nevada County's page is a lesson in reading the funding lines: the fire safe council's chipping programme and green waste days are both marked closed, temporarily unfunded and unable to take requests, while its free one on one defensible space advisory visits and its clearing help for low income seniors and disabled residents are unaffected. The conservation district's own advisory visit programme serves raw, undeveloped land with a certified technical assistance provider, and throws in prescribed fire education and even a manure exchange. Reflective address signs come through the council as well.
Written from the listings on this page and reviewed by Larry Trimboli on 9 September 2026.
They get a short summary of what Nevada County has and a link back here. The address or number reaches our contact records, and a text says how to stop. Only send to someone who would want it.
Why Sierra Log & Timber cares about your vacant land
Sierra Log & Timber mills cedar log and timber home packages in Chico, California. A good part of our working week is spent with people who have just bought land, and the same thing happens every time: the grants, the chipping days, the defensible space visits and the permit desks are all real, and all scattered across a dozen county websites that do not link to one another. So we put them in one place and left it open. You do not have to be building a log home to use this, and reading it signs you up for nothing.
The offices behind these listings are in Auburn and Grass Valley. 6 organisations and 5 programmes are recorded locally here. The local work runs to defensible space, forest health, chipping and 1 more. When somebody asks us to price a package for a parcel in Nevada County, these are the desks we point them at first. Access, clearing and defensible space all come before anything we mill, and they are cheaper before there is a building in the way.
Building on rural land in Nevada County
What applies in this county rather than across California, each line with the source it was read from.
Where the building permit comes from
Nevada County Building Department issues building permits here.
The rules that apply across California, the building code the state has adopted, its wildfire construction standard, who issues a permit and whether you may build a house yourself, are on the California page, each with the source it was read from.
Common questions
Does Sierra Log & Timber run any of these programmes?+
No. Every organisation and programme on this page is run by somebody else: a county office, a state agency, a nonprofit, a utility or a tribe. We collect them, check them and publish them, and that is the whole of our part in it. What we do ourselves is mill cedar log and timber home packages in Chico, California.
Is this free to use, and does using it sign me up for anything?+
The directory is free and reading it signs you up for nothing. The two panels below are the only places on this page that ask for an address, both are optional, and they do different jobs: one tells you when this county's listings change, the other tells us that something here is already wrong.
How current are the Nevada County listings?+
Every organisation here was checked against its own website or an official directory before it was published, and nothing goes on the page without a working way to reach it. That does not stop numbers changing, offices moving or a programme running out of money. When one of those happens, the second panel below is how it gets fixed.
They get a short summary of what Nevada County has and a link back here. The address or number reaches our contact records, and a text says how to stop. Only send to someone who would want it.
Free chipping when funded; historically ran on a suggested 75 dollars an hour donation. Temporarily unfunded and cannot accept requests.
What gets chipped is brush already cleared for defensible space around a permanent structure. The council says most vegetation you take off for home hardening, or from clearing a driveway or roadside for evacuation, can be chipped. When the programme is running, the first step is asking for a free estimate.
A free one to one visit: somebody comes to your property, walks the space around the house with you and says what to cut, clear and move. It is advisory, so what you leave with is a list to work through at your own pace rather than a finding against you.
Have your physical address ready, because the council asks for it when you request a visit. The advisors are volunteers who receive specialized training, and the council suggests a donation of at least $25 per visit towards their materials and training. Its phones are out of service at present, so email is the way in.
Policies effective November 15, 2025 or later can earn up to 12 separate discounts on the wildfire portion of the premium. Details: what to know, how to apply
FreeStatewidefrom California Department of Insurance
Under Insurance Code section 2644.9, effective October 14, 2022, all admitted property insurers that use wildfire risk in pricing must offer premium discounts for 12 specific… Details: what to know, how to apply
A reimbursement programme covering 75 to 90 percent of costs for non industrial private forest landowners; the 90 percent rate applies when the applicant owns less… Details: who qualifies, how to apply
Technical help for private forest landowners and the Forest Stewardship programme, delivered in California through the CAL FIRE partnership. Details: what to know
Set days on which a household can dispose of green waste free instead of paying to have it hauled, for a primary residence. Temporarily unavailable: the council is not running these at present.
There is nothing to book at the moment. The council's page still describes the 2025 disposal days and says it is searching for both funding and a location, working with other funders. If you are stockpiling green waste, email rather than phone to ask whether any dates have been set, since the phones are out of service.
FreeNationwidefrom USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
Federal help to stabilise a watershed after a disaster, which after a fire means the burn scars, the slipping slopes and the choked channels the fire… Details: what to know, who qualifies
FreeStatewidefrom California State Board of Equalization
Revenue and Taxation Code section 170 calamity relief: after a loss over 10,000 dollars in a county declared calamity, the assessor reappraises to the damaged value… Details: what to know, how to apply
Numbers change and programmes run out of money. Leave an address and it is held against the Nevada County page so you can be told when a listing here is added, changed or removed. No account.
What is stored is your address and which county page you left it on, and nothing else: no name, no location, nothing about what you read. It is used for that one notification and for nothing else, it appears nowhere on this site, and this site cannot read the list back. Nothing has been sent to any address yet, because the notices are not built; when they are, every message will say how to stop them.
Something on this page is wrong?
Numbers change, offices move and programmes run out of money. If something on this page is wrong, tell us and a person will check it.
Free to qualifying landowners, from Fire Safe Council of Nevada County
Defensible space clearing carried out for low income seniors and disabled residents, at no cost to the household. Where the council's advisory visit tells you what needs clearing, this is the programme that gets it cleared. It applies to a primary residence.
On the council's own page this one is marked temporarily unfunded, so ask whether it is running before you count on it. The wording is that low income senior residents or those with medical disabilities may qualify for help with defensible space clearing, not that they will. There is an AFN application form on the forms page.
Who qualifies Requires a primary residence. Low income seniors and disabled residents.
Financial and technical cost share for conservation practices on cropland, rangeland and private non industrial forestland. Details: who qualifies, how to apply
FreeNationwidefrom Federal Emergency Management Agency
Individual Assistance, disaster case management and Hazard Mitigation Assistance after a federal disaster declaration; preparedness guides at ready.gov. Details: what to know, who qualifies, how to apply
FreeStatewidefrom California Public Utilities Commission
Self Generation Incentive Program battery incentives: the Equity budget at 850 dollars per kWh and the Equity Resiliency budget at 1,000 dollars per kWh, which can… Details: what to know, who qualifies, how to apply
Home repair loans to around 40,000 dollars, and grants to around 10,000 dollars for owners 62 and over, to remove health and safety hazards in eligible… Details: what to know
Free technical advice on forest health, tree mortality and CFIP applications from regional CAL FIRE Forestry Assistance Specialists. Details: what to know, how to apply
Free, from Nevada County Resource Conservation District
Free on site land management advice from a certified Technical Assistance Provider: forest health, invasive weeds, vegetation management and wildlife habitat. Also free prescribed fire education and site visits, and a manure exchange.
Check with the district before you count on a visit. Demand has been heavy enough that it has paused new applications while it restructures the programme, and it is still working through a backlog of people who applied earlier. What the visit is for is broad rather than narrow: questions about your property, how it is used and the natural resource problems on it, and where the district does not have the answer it puts you in touch with the agency or specialist that does.
Who qualifies Serves raw, undeveloped land.
How to apply Submit an Advisory Request Form online at ncrcd.org.
Listed on their own website or an official directory. We have not called it.
Nationwide
from United Policyholders
Free guidance on insurance claims, contractors, rebuilding and avoiding scams: the little yellow book, the Ask an Expert forum, and in person and Zoom clinics in… Details: what to know
What you send goes to the people who maintain this directory and appears nowhere on this site. Your email is used to reply to you and for nothing else.
