SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California forestry officials say they have awarded over $63 million in grants to projects that promote healthy forests to help enhance carbon sequestration. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection announced Wednesday the grants were awarded to 16 projects covering nearly 200,000 acres of private, state, and federal forestlands in 13 counties. Angie Lottes, CAL FIRE’s Assistant Deputy Director for Climate and Energy, says 13 of the grants will target about 150,000 acres in a number of ways. The projects include thinning dense and pest-impacted forests; using prescribed fire to reduce hazardous fuel loads; and planting trees in forests diminished by fire, drought, insects and disease. The three other grants will protect more than 40,000 acres of forestland in Napa, Placer and Siskiyou counties from urban and agricultural development.