LIME COMPLEX FIRE UPDATE
June 26, 2008 8pm
Location: 5 miles south of Hyampom and 14 miles west of Hayfork, California
Date and Time of Fire Start: June 20, 2008 at 5:00 p.m.
Cause: Lightning
Estimated Fire Size: 19,000 Acres Estimated Fire Containment: 15%
Estimated Expected Containment: TBD
Committed Resources: 776 total personnel including 23 Crews, 6 Helicopters, 32 Engines, 16 Dozers, 19 Water Tenders, and fire support personnel.
Current Fire Situation: Today, firefighters completed line construction around the Slide fire, shifting this fire into patrol status. The Lime, Telephone and Noble fires continued to burn actively, and an evacuation of the Wildwood area was initiated as a result of the Telephone fire moving closer to the community. Crews continued to make progress containing smaller fires within the complex, in an effort to prevent an increase in the number of potentially large fires in the area.
Planned Actions: Crews will work through the night patrolling fires within the complex, holding the fires from crossing established fire lines, and protecting structures.
Evacuations and Closures: **An evacuation remains in effect for residents of the Platina area. **Additionally, the Wildwood community has been advised by the Trinity County Sheriff’s Department to evacuate. Shelters have been established for evacuees at the Grant Elementary School and at the Weaverville Elementary School. **Highway 36, from the junction with Highway 3 to the junction with Road 302 (Wildwood Road) remains closed.
Special Note: Before traveling to or through the area, please check current road conditions as many fires in Northern California are affecting travel routes. Also, please be advised that heavy smoke may occur when traveling through fire areas.
Additional Fire Information: Please call the Shasta-Trinity National Forest fire information line at (530) 226-2500 (press 2) or online at www.fs.fed.us/r5/shastatrinity.
NEW PLANS AVAILABLE:
New Plan Avalable on www.tcrcd.net for the Down River Fire and Fuels Management Plan, covering the communities in and around Salyer and Hawkins Bar.
THE "TRINITY COUNTY STRATEGIC FIRE MANAGAMENT PLAN" CWPP & "THE GRASS VALLEY CREEK WATERSHED FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN" CAN BE VIEWED/DOWNLOADED AT THE WEBSITE FOR THE TRINITY COUNTY RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT AT www.tcrcd.net The CWPP has now been approved by CDF, Trinity County and the Trinity County Fire Cheifs' Association.
Next Meeting of the Trinity County Fire Safe Council
There will be no August meeting we’ll be at the County Fair. Come join us!
Next meeting will be September 28th
7:00 PM
at the Trinity PUD
MEETING MINUTES
July 27, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council conducted a Field Tour instead of a meeting. We had eight attendees for a tour of fuels reduction projects around Weaverville.
Steve Graves, USFS Trinity River Management Unit (Weaverville) led the tour to project sites in the Weaverville Basin. The sites were chosen to show different treatment methods and a variety of site conditions. Steve and Pat Frost gave an overview of the strategy for implementing fuels management zones in the Wildland-Urban interface of Weaverville [as identified in the Trinity County Community Wildfire Protection Plan] – linking together work on private lands (funded by CA Fire Safe Council most recently) and on federal land (USFS projects funded in large part by the RAC and BLM projects funded by their appropriated funding).
The group visited the Garden Gulch Mastication Project, in and around the Oregon Fire (2001). Steve discussed the project design, including vegetated buffers that were left along the Weaver Basin Trail for aesthetic reasons. He also showed the group some of the post-fire treatments in the Oregon Fire, including some recent replanting.
The group then drove north of Weaverville to Musser Hill, a ridge that represents a northern boundary for the Weaver Creek watershed and the community of Weaverville. We saw the Highway 3 shaded fuel break that was implemented by the TCRCD along the highway. This was handwork (RCD) and pile burning (USFS and CDF Trinity River Camp) and the Musser Hill Mastication Project (landscape fuel management zone) that ties into the roadside fuel break. The group traveled further up on Musser Ridge to look at some fuels management along the roadway and a proposed project that would include some timber harvesting. This last, proposed project is the subject of an appeal that is not resolved as of this time.
Meeting ended at 8:40 p.m.
June 22, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox and opened the meeting with introductions. Attendance was 9.
Project Updates
Nick Goulette (Watershed Research & Training Center): They have just about finished the Post Mountain work from Four Corners to Hwy 36. Next project will be the Highway 3 South project. This has two funding sources & two components – USFS lands 9RAC funding) and private lands (CA Fire Safe Council funds). USFS will put out two stewardship contracts this summer – Post Mountain and Hyampom.
Paul Johnson (Lower Trinity Management Unit/Six Rivers NF) said that they have completed burning hand piles from last year, but they missed the window for the 80 acres of understory burning in the Salyer/Hawkins Bar area this season. Trinity River project is moving forward. They are flagging for various specialists to review.
Stu Gore (Mad River District): Introduced John Chester. John reported that the entire Mad Ridge fuelbreak will be done this season. This received a lot of funding from RAC. They will be starting the Van Duzen project, which is down spur ridges. It will be a stewardship project.
George Chapman (USFS Weaverville District). Eagle Ranch Timber Sale was appealed. It has been reviewed by Regional Office and is in the 45-day review/comment period. Oregon Mastication project was awarded to Firestorm and should start very soon. Fire Use Guide is under review and there will be another community meeting July 15th in Trinity Center.
Pat Frost (TCRCD): The Weaverville Community Forest project is moving along. There was a field trip and meeting on May 26th to look at the completed mark of Phase I (done by Ken Baldwin & his associates). Also, the hazard trees along the powerline are being hauled to the Trinity River Mill, putting the first funds into the stewardship account.
The group discussed upcoming meetings and decided that it is time to have a couple of field trips. The July meeting will be in the Weaverville Basin. George Chapman & Pat Frost will organize it. The idea is to invite the public to go out and see some of the work that has been done and that is planned.
Meeting ended at 8:25p.m.
Next meeting will be a Field Trip
July 27
6:30 PM
Meet in front of Weaverville Ranger District
May 25, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox and opened the meeting with introductions. Attendance was 11.
Northwest CA Fire Safe Council Conference
Alex Cousins attended the conference, which was held in Crescent City, representing the Trinity County Fire Safe Council. Some of the highlights included “The Red Zone” a mapping/GIS software that goes on hand-held computers like “Palm pilots”. This could be something that Volunteer departments could use – maps with all of the necessary information [parcels/ownership, roads, water sources, etc] for their service area could be loaded on a handheld & be available whenever they respond to a call. There were discussions with Air Quality staff about easing the burn permit/permitting; increasing the Wildfire Awareness Week to the month of May; continuing to promote biomass utilization; regionalizing the CA Fire Safe Council outreach materials (so that regionally appropriate information is available to our area and not information from southern California); working with the insurance industry more closely; adding CalTrans and utility districts to the fire safe councils; recruiting younger people to be a part of the Fire Safe Councils; stewardship contracting and the issue of State grants requiring prevailing wages. This last issue will require action in Sacramento to be resolved.
MOU Status
Frost provided an update. Board of Supervisors approved the MOU and had Chairman Chambers sign it. County staff have distributed it to the signatory agencies for “single page signatures” and then all of those will be compiled and sent out to us. Dan Chartier brought in the CDF signature and Bob Mountjoy signed for Bioregional Group.
Emergency Evacuation Planning
Ingrid Landis described the status of the Post Mountain plan. Watershed Research & Training Center has completed the evacuation route mapping and the Fire Department developed a phone tree system for their community. Frost described the Trinity Center Community meeting. They had George Chapman give a presentation on the USFS “Fire Use Guide” and then they broke the attendees into neighborhood groups to review the GIS maps to update them – focusing on the things learned by the VFDs during the Big Red truck inspections; on identifying safety zones and evacuation routes. Kelly Sheen from the RCD will then revise the maps and put them in a form that will fit into a landowner handout. The VFDs will review and add community-specific write-ups.
Weaverville Community Forest
Frost announces that there are two field trips to the Weaverville Community Forest. There wasbe a short field trip with Kenneth Baldwin on May 5th to look at the sample mark of two different treatment areas and then there will be a day-long field trip & meeting on May 26th to look at the proposed Phase I fuels treatments and to discuss some next steps (signing up for committees, etc). For May 26th, meet at Weaverville Firehall at 0830 for the field trip and at 1130 for lunch and meeting. There will be an advertisement in the Trinity Journal for the May 26th meeting, which coincides with the first visioning meeting two years ago. Steve Graves described that the USFS is looking at possible boundaries for expanding the Community Forest onto lands managed by the USFS.
Roger Jaegel mentioned that Steve Anderson, BLM Area Manager, said that some lands in the Hayfork Valley have been identified for disposal near the reservoir and it seems like they would be good candidates for a stewardship/community forest project, too.
Project Updates
Steve Graves (USFS Weaverville District): They are about to start 32 acres of the Oregon Fire Project. Piles along Rush Creek Road & China Gulch Road as part of the RCD’s Highway 3 were chipped recently with a new USFS chipper. He also reported that at Blue Rock Road (up near China Gulch Road) has a lot of winter damage and down fall that needs to be dealt with or it will be a major problem in the future.
Rob McClelland (Lower Trinity Management Unit/Six Rivers NF: Planning efforts are shifting to cooperative work with the Hoopa Valley Tribe, especially in areas in the vicinity of the Megram Fire with fuel loads of 75-300 tons/acre. They still intend to do some under story burning in the Salyer Hawkins bar area (40-80 acres) and then will re-start the Trinity River Project. He said that the Fire Safe Fair in Willow Creek on May 20th was a great success, and that Willow Creek is trying to form a fire safe council.
Alex Cousins (Watershed Center): they did a demonstration day last week using a variety of methods on a private landowner’s property – masticator, a small rubber-tired excavator and even draft horses. He provided a draft letter of support that the Watershed Center would like for a grant application to do a watershed plan for the Big Creek watershed, which is the municipal supply for Hayfork. The group approved sending a letter. Frost will handle it. A youth crew will start working when school is out. They will work on fire safe and trails projects with RAC funding.
Ingrid Landis (Post Mountain VFD & Chiefs’ Association): The Post Mtn. Stewardship Decision Memo has been issued & they are waiting for any comments before Donna Harmon can sign it. Ingrid also represents the Chiefs Association. They have been focused on the communication issues and the Hayfork VFD assessment and annexation issues.
Stu Gore (Mad River Ranger District, Six Rivers NF): ID team is meeting on the Van Dusen Thin/Stewardship Project, which has RAC funding. It involves treating spur ridges down from the Mad Ridge Fuelbreak to Van Dusen Road {about 70-100 acres}
John Jelicich (Planning Department) They are getting ready to do General Plan Updates. Open Space and Conservation elements and Safety should be of interest to FSC and he hopes that we will be active participants in the process.
Dan Chartier (CDF) Getting staffed up. Weaverville by May 26th and Hayfork May 29th.
Pat Frost (TCRCD) gave a brief update on Community Forest. Daylong field trip/meeting is tomorrow.
Meeting ended at 9:15p.m.
Next meeting will be June 22nd th at 7 PM
April 27, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Pat Frost stepped in for Jesse Cox and opened the meeting with introductions. Attendance was 10.
Gemmell and Post Mountain Forest Stewardship Projects
Cheryl Carrothers, USFS South Fork Management Unit (Hayfork), led the discussion on these projects. The Gemmell project is in early stages of planning. Much of the project area is in Late Successional Reserve (LSR) and the over-arching objectives of the project will be to implement significant wildlife habitat work. The Study area is 4,800 acres. There is existing Spotted Owl and Coho critical habitat. Forest health objectives (National Fire Plan) are also being designed into the project. Some of the key project elements within the 1,600 acres are:
1. Forest health treatments with a commercial component. The forest health element is guided by improvements to habitat for species like Spotted Owl and Goshawk.
2. 12 miles of road decommissioning/hydroclosures that will protect/improve habitat for Coho.
The group discussion revolved around the potential to use the stewardship authorities so that retained receipts can be used to implement critical resource and recreation projects (but stewardship funds cannot be used to build new infrastructure). Consensus for the Fire Safe Council to send a letter of support. Frost will draft the letter.
Donna Harmon provides an update on the Post Mtn. Stewardship Project. There is a preliminary Decision Memo for a Categorical Exemption (CE). USFS will have to do a Notice of Comment period to seek public input.
Donna also provided a brief description of the Ten Flat Thin & Fuels Project for which there is a new draft of the Purpose & Need statement.
Information on any of these three (3) projects can be obtained from the Hayfork District office.
Browns Fuels CE
Steve Graves (USFS Weaverville) described the status of this project, which is primarily in the Weaverville WUI. Notice of Comment was published on April 12th and runs until May 11th. He has had one call thus far, regarding the brushing project sand the potential impacts to Neotropical nesting birds. This is an issue of timing the project work with nesting seasons (typically not working between May 15 & July 10th). They have received a letter of concurrence from USFWS. This was part of the “Browns Integrated Project” and the fuels part is funded by the RAC.
Weaverville Community Forest
Frost announces that there will be two field trips coming up. There will be a short field trip with Kenneth Baldwin on May 5th to look at the sample mark of two different treatment areas and then there will be a day-long field trip & meeting on May 26th to look at the proposed Phase I fuels treatments and to discuss some next steps (signing up for committees, etc). For May 26th, meet at Weaverville Firehall at 0830 for the field trip and at 1130 for lunch and meeting. There will be an advertisement in the Trinity Journal for the May 26th meeting, which coincides with the first visioning meeting two years ago. Steve Graves described that the USFS is looking at possible boundaries for expanding the Community Forest onto lands managed by the USFS.
Roger Jaegel mentioned that Steve Anderson, BLM Area Manager, said that some lands in the Hayfork Valley have been identified for disposal near the reservoir and it seems like they would be good candidates for a stewardship/community forest project, too.
Project Updates
Roger Jaegel (Board of Supervisors) described the very productive meeting that was held with the North Coast Air Quality Management District in late march. BLM, USFS and RCD attended and a number of action items were identified to help improve the burn permit process [e.g. getting multi-day approvals, possibly setting up a “users group” to meet with the Air District staff regularly].
Steve Graves (USFS Weaverville District). They have added about 32 acres to the Oregon Fire Project and with CDF have been conducting “falling” classes. They have treated about 10 acres this way. They also have done some replanting in the fire. Piles that were done along Rush Creek Road & China Gulch Road as part of the RCD’s Highway 3 project won’t be burned, but will need to be chipped (those “in the way”), because the Shasta-Trinity NF is prohibited from burning until the investigation of the fire up in Weed earlier this year has been completed. Lake Forest Estates (RAC funded) mastication project is partially complete. The contractor did 54 acres and defaulted. USFS is working on a new contract to finish the project this season. The next phase of Musser Hill fuels project will be done this summer. The NEPA is done and it is funded with RAC money.
Paul Johnson (Lower Trinity Management Unit/Six Rivers NF) said that they have about 15 acres of hand piles from last year to burn and they are planning about 80 acres of understory burning in the Salyer/Hawkins bar area this coming season. They are looking at the Trinity River Unit next. He also announced that there will be a Fire Safe Fair at Willow Creek on May 20th.
Bob Mountjoy (Watershed Research & Training Center/HATS) distributed maps of the Hayfork Valley Trail Master Plan. This was funded by the USFS. Trail clearing/maintenance is continuing with RAC funding for a youth crew. The work provides trail access and improves fire protection. This summer signage will be added to trails that have already been completed.
Donna Harmon (USFS Hayfork) noted that they got most of their scheduled burning done before the forest-wide burn “ban” that Steve graves mentioned.
Meeting ended at 9:15p.m.
March 23, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox opened the meeting with introductions. Stormy weather and landslides continue to limit attendance to six.
New Fire Safe Council MOU
Frost handed out a sample MOU that has been reviewed and edited by staff at Six Rivers NF in Eureka. No real substantive changes are proposed. It mainly updates the references to USFS authorities and who the signatories and primary contacts will be. We need everyone to look at this last part and get back to Pat or Noreen at the RCD to verify who will sign for the organization and who will be primary contact. A draft is attached to these minutes for this purpose.
CA Fire Safe Council Grants
Trinity County did okay this last round. We just received word that three conceptual proposals were approved. Alex Cousins, with the Watershed Research & Training Center, described the Highway 3 South project. This roadside fuels management zone will link up with fuels treatments on USFS lands along Highway 3 South that is being funded by the RAC. It will go from just beyond the transfer station to 13 Dips Road. Frost described the other two projects: Downriver Phase II is to treat the next phase of highest priority areas in the Hawkins Bar/Slayer area as identified in the RCD’s new Downriver Fuel & Fire Management Plan (Ken Baldwin, author). This project will connect to the other work that has been done on private land and the work being conducted on USFS lands with RAC funding. Oregon Street & GVC fuels management project extends the work that has been done on private lands near BLM lands (Weaverville Community Forest and Grass Valley Creek watershed).
Planning for Wildfire Awareness (May 2006)
The group discussed a number of outreach and public education ideas, including:
Resolution to Board of Supervisors
Slides at Trinity Theater
Field Tours of projects done & underway
Advertising the new 100-ft./ defensible space law.
A raffle – the winner gets a “yard make-over” to illustrate defensible space.
Wildland Fire Use Guide
George Chapman, USFS Trinity River Management Unit (Weaverville) gave a slideshow presentation that describes the new fire use guide that they are developing. It primarily addresses the wilderness area and lays out the procedures and decision process for using (or not using) wildfire as a management tool. Everything from location, specifics of geography/terrain, short and long-term weather forecasts, smoke, and availability of resources will be taken into account to decide when & how to use fire as a management tool. Using natural fires has ecological/wildlife benefits and it is cost effective, but it carries additional responsibilities for the line officers. The Klamath NF has adopted a similar Guide and they used it last year, as it relates to Trinity Alps Wilderness. George will speak to the Chiefs’ Association on April 3rd & then the hope is to present this at some community meetings before the Guide goes into effect for this fire season.
Project Updates
Kenneth Baldwin (RPF) said that the Downriver Fire and Fuels Management Plan is complete & on-line at the RCD website (www.tcrcd.net). Ken & his partners have started to lay out the first phase (200 acres) of the Weaverville Community Forest for the RCD and working closely with Walter Herzog at BLM. Goal is to implement the first treatments this field season.
Alex Cousins (WRTC) reported on the Four Corners & Post Mtn. West projects that will be done this year, and the Highway 3 South and Hyampom Fuel Management Zones.
Walter Herzog (BLM) said they are working on NEPA for work in Grass Valley Creek watershed that will include prescribed fire, thinning and mechanical treatment on about 1000 acres south of Highway 299. He also reported that a meeting has been set up for March 29th at 10:30 a.m. at the Weaverville Fire Hall with the North coast Air Quality Management District staff. Roger Jaegel facilitated this meeting and everyone is welcome to come and share his or her thought on how to improve the burn permit process.
George Chapman (Shasta TrinityNF) reported briefly on the escaped prescribed fire near Weed. There is a review being conducted and for now, no prescribed fire will be allowed on the Forest. About 3,000 acres burned.
Paul Johnson (Lower Trinity Management Unit) said that they are burning hand piles around Trinity Village from the RCD’s work last season and they are planning about 80 acres of under story work this coming season.
Meeting ended at 9:00p.m.
February 23, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Weaverville Fire Hall. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox opened the meeting with introductions. Stormy weather and landslides limited attendance to six.
RAC Proposals
The group briefly discussed the RAC proposals that were submitted to the Fuels subcommittee. The committee met on February 15th. The following projects will be sent forward to the full RAC, as best as those who attended that meeting can recollect.
Five-cent Gulch Mastication (Weaverville)
Crofton Wildlife Burn (Weaverville)
Two projects from South Fork Management Unit (Hayfork valley)
A broadcast burn project (Lower Trinity)
Completing Mad Ridge fuel management zone
The full RAC will meet on April 3rd, at which time the RAC will consider the subcommittee proposals and those from the public. Stu Gore said that he thought that the Humboldt-Trinity Recreation Alliance would be submitting a proposal to work on spur ridges that connect to the Mad Ridge project.
Stewardship Contracting Workshop
Frost announced that there will be a two-day workshop at the USFS Headquarters (a.k.a. Supervisor’s Office) in Redding on March 23-24. The first day is geared to proponents/partners and the federal agencies and the second day for contractors. The Watershed Research & Training Center is taking the lead on this with the USFS and the area’s RCDs (Western Shasta, Glenn-Tehama and Trinity). The registration materials & agenda are available on the Trinity County RCD website – www.tcrcd.net.
Ingrid Landis shared the announcement for another workshop that is occurring at the same time. The California Interagency Fire Prevention/Mitigation/Education Conference will be in Sacramento. At this point no one from Trinity County is planning to attend, but it looks like it would be a very good conference for us.
Gemmill Stewardship Proposal
No one from the Hayfork Ranger district was able to attend. So, this is postponed until they can give their presentation.
Project Updates
Kenneth Baldwin (RPF) gave an overview of the Downriver Fire and Fuels Management Plan that he is doing for the RCD. It is just about complete & should be on the RCD website by early march. It is a very detailed community plan. He even went out with CDF helicopter pilot to verify potential helipad sites that are now mapped. Ken shared examples of the maps that are being generated by the RCD and that will be included in this plan. The Plan also includes about 20 pages of proposed projects (also mapped) and the goal is to get those out to all of the interested organizations, including the USFS, CDF and Volunteer Fire Departments. The USFS Community Assistance program funded this plan, which was part of a demonstration project for the downriver communities.
Ken also gave an overview of another project that he, and his partners (BBWA) are doing with the RCD. This is a statewide Vegetation Management Programmatic EIR. They have been doing a lot of research and outreach for the administrative draft of the document. A recent twist in the project is that the Board of Forestry now is the CEQA lead agency instead of CDF. This may cause some procedural changes and delays in the timeline.
Steve Graves (USFS Weaverville) began burning up in Oregon Fire on February 23rd and they hope to get CDF Trinity River Camp crew back to Rush Creek Road hand piles by early March.
Stu indicated that Mad River District is plugging away at Mad Ridge project.
Ingrid Landis (Post Mountain PUD): Watershed Center and USFS have completed some great looking work on Post Mountain Road. Ingrid is working with the Watershed Center and UCCE on a business plan to develop a “Contractors’ Administrative Self-help Center”. The concept is to have maybe 3 of these centers in the county (the first at the Hayfork Incubator) where contractors could get assistance with the basics of the business side of federal contracting. A key feature of these centers will be high-speed Internet access, which is an essential tool for gaining access to the federal bid process. Ingrid also said that there now is a contracting officer assigned to the Post Mountain and Hyampom Stewardship projects, a key step to moving forward with the stewardship program.
Other Issues
There still is an interest in the group having a discussion with Larry Odle of the North Coast Air Management District to work on ways to improve the burn permit program.
Our operating MOU needs to be renewed. The original was extended for two years, and the extension expired December 2005. The USFS only can enter into an MOU for up to five years, so this will be a new one. Six River NF staff have sent us a template to use and the RCD will draft an MOU to bring to the march meeting.
We adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
January 26, 2006
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Weaverville Fire Hall. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox opened the meeting with introductions. Stormy weather and landslides limited attendance to six.
California Fire Safe Council 2006 Community Assistance Grants
The Watershed Research & Training Center (WRTC) and RCD are putting together a number of applications, which are due Feb 3rd. They are: Highway 3 South Fuels Reduction & Hayfork South & West Fuels Reduction (WRTC); and Oregon Mtn/Grass Valley Creek Fuels Reduction (adjacent to BLM lands); East Weaver Creek Community Protection (Adjacent to Crofton broadcast burn on USFS land) and Down River Communities Protection Phase II (on private lands in Salyer & Hawkins Bar)
Trinity County General Plan Update
John Jelicich, Trinity County Planning Director, gave an overview of the planned update of the County’s General Plan. He indicated that they want to update the Safety, Open Space, Conservation and Land use elements. This could include any number of areas of interest to the Fire Safe Council and would be important for establishing policies that would be used to work with the USFS & BLM when they do Management Plan updates. It is a big job. They have looked at using a consultant and the guesstimate is that it would take 3-3.5 years to complete the update. In-house could take longer. Funding hasn’t been identified yet. John’s thought is to focus on the general plan first and then work down to an area level and finally community plans and zoning issues.
Roger Jaegel said that it is very important to use all of the work that has already been done (e.g. the Community Wildfire Protection Plan and specific community wildfire protection plans, like Post Mtn., East Branch of Weaver Creek, GVC, Down River and East Fork Stuart’s Fork plans. Frost offered the ability of the Fire Safe Council, working with the Chiefs Association, to host community meetings to get grassroots input early on.
Everyone agreed that the Fire Safe Council has a role to play and can help the County meet its needs of updating the plan and getting important policies established for fire safe communities.
USFS - Fire Use Guide
George Chapman, USFS Trinity River Management Unit, gave a briefing on their efforts to develop a guide on how the USFS will handle natural cause ignitions in the wilderness for “resource purposes”. This guide will be an appendix to the Forest’s Fire Management Plan; it needs to be completed by mid-June for the Headquarters to sign. They plan on having public, informational meetings in March and April. This only applies to the Trinity Alps Wilderness at this time.
Project Updates
It is winter and there isn’t a lot of work going on. George Chapman said that a recent court decision on Survey & Manage may affect some NEPA that was recently completed and shift timelines for some projects out a bit, but the USFS is still reviewing the court order and their NEPA decisions.
Other Issues
Roger Jaegel gave a brief update on some items of focus to the Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC). John Hoffman is managing a template for Community Wildfire Protection Plans that is a web-based “Drop-down menu that is pretty interesting and user-friendly. RCRC also is very involved in Forest Emergency Recovery and Restoration Act [for post fire recovery efforts] and this will link to reauthorization of the “County Payments” bill.
The group welcomed Stu Gore, who just joined the staff at Mad River Ranger District. We’ll add him to our mailing list and hope he can join us whenever time permits.
We adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Next meeting will be February 23rd at 7 PM
At the Trinity PUD
December 8, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Weaverville Fire Hall. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox opened the meeting with introductions. We only had 4 attendees.
California Fire Safe Council 2006 Community Assistance Grants
Frost gave an update on the upcoming grant cycle. Applications will be due in early February. The RCD & Watershed Center met with Joyce Andersen and Donna Harmon to coordinate project ideas and to lay out proposals that represent high priorities to the USFS and the Fire Safe Council. Proposals on private land that have close links to proposals on federal land and that are a part of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan will rank better. On the Hayfork side, the highest priority will be to complete projects that are a part of the Post Mountain Community Wildfire Protection efforts and the Weaverville district’s top priorities are for projects associated with the Browns Integrated Project in the Weaverville Basin [funding for USFS coming from RAC]. So the focus of Fire Safe Council grants on private land will be ones that complement the USFS and BLM projects. The group’s consensus is to endorse and support the Watershed Center (Post Mountain) and RCD (Weaverville Basin projects and possibly GVC private lands) project proposals to be submitted on behalf of the Trinity County Fire Safe Council.
The group also discussed the continuing dilemma on NEPA for the currently funded grants that the RCD has. The group directed Frost to pursue this with Sharon Heywood and the Regional Forest Office.
Project Updates
Walter Herzog (BLM): They have completed about 800 acres of prescribed burning along County Line Road South, mostly on Whiskeytown, but about 220 acres in Trinity County in the headwaters of Grass Valley Creek. BLM also has completed about 40 burn piles. Walter is working on NEPA (EA) for forest health/fuels thinning project in Grass Valley Creek. No new roads will be built and the thinning will be followed by prescribed fire.
George Chapman, Trinity River Management Unit (Shasta-Trinity NF): They are burning piles on the Highway 3 fuels project completed by the RCD, using CDF crews. Also some burning on Oregon Mtn.
Pat Frost (TCRCD) The RCD crews were moved up to Covington Mill to work on the USFS lots within the subdivision, but the snow has resulted in them being pulled back & they are working down in Salyer. This is funded by the Trinity County RAC. RCD and NRCS are hosting a community meeting December 10th with landowners along the Lower South Fork road near Salyer. There is a CA FSC grant to do a shaded fuelbreak and some defensible space work. The district is starting the outreach effort and is also using this opportunity to increase landowner awareness about NRCS cost share programs with a small grant from the CA Association of Conservation Districts. The goal is to get landowners, who participate in the shaded fuel break work to go beyond that and get involved in a wide range of conservation practices on their property.
Other Issues
Walter brought up recurring problems with the North Coast Air Management District on burning. He continues to be met by very rigid staff, business hours that make it difficult to coordinate on-the-ground projects and burn no burn decisions that don’t seem to reflect the weather conditions, especially in eastern Trinity County. Jesse recapped our meetings with Larry Odle, the Executive Director and wondered whether the District is still struggling with finding funding for monitoring equipment to place in Trinity County that would help with the modeling and prediction of burn days. It was suggested that we continue this discussion at our next meeting with Roger Jaegel, who sits on the Air District board representing Trinity County.
We adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Next meeting will be January 26th at 7 PM
At the Trinity PUD
December 8, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Weaverville Fire Hall. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox opened the meeting with introductions. We only had 4 attendees.
California Fire Safe Council 2006 Community Assistance Grants
Frost gave an update on the upcoming grant cycle. Applications will be due in early February. The RCD & Watershed Center met with Joyce Andersen and Donna Harmon to coordinate project ideas and to lay out proposals that represent high priorities to the USFS and the Fire Safe Council. Proposals on private land that have close links to proposals on federal land and that are a part of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan will rank better. On the Hayfork side, the highest priority will be to complete projects that are a part of the Post Mountain Community Wildfire Protection efforts and the Weaverville district’s top priorities are for projects associated with the Browns Integrated Project in the Weaverville Basin [funding for USFS coming from RAC]. So the focus of Fire Safe Council grants on private land will be ones that complement the USFS and BLM projects. The group’s consensus is to endorse and support the Watershed Center (Post Mountain) and RCD (Weaverville Basin projects and possibly GVC private lands) project proposals to be submitted on behalf of the Trinity County Fire Safe Council.
The group also discussed the continuing dilemma on NEPA for the currently funded grants that the RCD has. The group directed Frost to pursue this with Sharon Heywood and the Regional Forest Office.
Project Updates
Walter Herzog (BLM): They have completed about 800 acres of prescribed burning along County Line Road South, mostly on Whiskeytown, but about 220 acres in Trinity County in the headwaters of Grass Valley Creek. BLM also has completed about 40 burn piles. Walter is working on NEPA (EA) for forest health/fuels thinning project in Grass Valley Creek. No new roads will be built and the thinning will be followed by prescribed fire.
George Chapman, Trinity River Management Unit (Shasta-Trinity NF): They are burning piles on the Highway 3 fuels project completed by the RCD, using CDF crews. Also some burning on Oregon Mtn.
Pat Frost (TCRCD) The RCD crews were moved up to Covington Mill to work on the USFS lots within the subdivision, but the snow has resulted in them being pulled back & they are working down in Salyer. This is funded by the Trinity County RAC. RCD and NRCS are hosting a community meeting December 10th with landowners along the Lower South Fork road near Salyer. There is a CA FSC grant to do a shaded fuelbreak and some defensible space work. The district is starting the outreach effort and is also using this opportunity to increase landowner awareness about NRCS cost share programs with a small grant from the CA Association of Conservation Districts. The goal is to get landowners, who participate in the shaded fuel break work to go beyond that and get involved in a wide range of conservation practices on their property.
Other Issues
Walter brought up recurring problems with the North Coast Air Management District on burning. He continues to be met by very rigid staff, business hours that make it difficult to coordinate on-the-ground projects and burn no burn decisions that don’t seem to reflect the weather conditions, especially in eastern Trinity County. Jesse recapped our meetings with Larry Odle, the Executive Director and wondered whether the District is still struggling with finding funding for monitoring equipment to place in Trinity County that would help with the modeling and prediction of burn days. It was suggested that we continue this discussion at our next meeting with Roger Jaegel, who sits on the Air District board representing Trinity County.
We adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Next meeting will be January 26th at 7 PM
At the Trinity PUD
TRINITY COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
October 27, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD in Weaverville. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Pat Frost began the meeting on behalf of Jesse Cox by welcoming everyone and having introductions. We had 7 attendees. A warm welcome to, two new attendees, Mike Birondo, with the Shasta Unit of CDF and Larry Winter, Fire Chief with Hyampom Volunteer Fire Department.
Before discussions of the evening’s agenda began, Bill Britton gave an update on the fire that destroyed Jesse & Rose Marie Cox’s home earlier in the week and the death of a Lewiston volunteer firefighter from a heart attack. Bill indicated that the Chiefs’ Association would be collecting funds for both tragedies. He had talked to Jesse, but at this time didn’t have details on what the Cox’s needs would be. The entire Fire Safe Council community sends its heartfelt thoughts out to Jesse & Rose Marie and to the family and colleagues of Walter Sykes.
Discuss New Defensible Space Guidelines
Frost distributed copies of draft regulations and a draft guideline for the updated defensible space (100 feet from structures) passed into law by the California Legislature in 2004. The Board of Forestry is promulgating these regulations. The group suggested sending a letter of general support, after a lengthy discussion of what these regulations will mean in Trinity County – how they may be reflected in General or Community Plan updates or through building permit reviews. Britton indicated that the initial approach from CDF is one of education about the new guidelines and the FSC should look at ways to get the word out throughout the county.
Project Updates
Rob McClelland, Lower Trinity Management Unit (Six Rivers NF): Rob reported that they have completed 20-40 acres of hand pile burning associated with the fuels work done by the TCRCD crew earlier in the season and 200 acres of under story burning. They also have a new planning specialist and will be moving their fuels projects up the Lower South Fork of the Trinity River.
George Chapman, Trinity River Management Unit (Shasta-Trinity NF): They will start burning on Monday (October 31st) conditions permitting on the Highway 3 fuels project completed by the RCD. The Musser Hill mastication project, linked to the Highway 3 FMZ is complete and they are adjusting the NEPA for the Browns Integrated Project
Pat Frost, TCRCD, mentioned that the chipper program, being funded by the North Coast Air Quality Mgmt. District (check name!!!) was going pretty well, considering its newness to the three communities. The RCD crews were moving up to Covington Mill to work on the USFS lots within the subdivision. This is funded by the Trinity County RAC. He also mentioned that the RCD has completed a landowner survey for the Upper Trinity River Watershed Planning project and it is now on-line. The survey, which focuses on water resource issues, shows that forest health and fire safe projects are near the top of landowners’ concerns – a clear indication that folks recognize the links between catastrophic wildfire and water quality/quantity issues in the basin. He announced that the RCD would be having a community meeting on the Upper Trinity Plan in mid-November, targeting November 16th, if the IOOF Hall in Trinity Center is available.
Mike Birondo with CDF will be trying to make our meetings. He reported that the Shasta-Trinity Unit Fire Plan is done & he included the Trinity County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) in the CDF plan.
Other Issues
Roger Jaegel, with the Trinity County Board of Supervisors reported the following: There are two (2) new MOU’s out that are noteworthy. One is between USDA (Forest Service), the US Department of Interior (BLM, US Fish & Wildlife Service and National Park Service) and the National Association of State Foresters and the National Association of Counties. The purpose of this MOU is to improve collaboration on selecting annual fuels treatment program. The second MOU is between, USDA, US Department of Interior and Us Department of Energy to set out principles for Woody Biomass Utilization for Restoration and Fuels Treatments. Roger also shared a memo from the Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC) on new building standards that are being developed for construction in teh Wildland-Urban Interface. These new standards will go into effect for construction of new buildings and affect exterior construction. The complete rules can be found at http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/UWIBS.html
Finally Roger gave an update on the “County Payments” (aka Roads & Schools) law reauthorization. It is a significant source of funding for Trinity County (in excess of $7 million annually). If the bill is not reauthorized, it will be devastating. The County needs to work with all of its partners locally and develop a strategy, with a focus on the PTEIR, Adaptive Management Areas (AMA’s) and continue to think strategically about forest health projects around our communities.
Rob McClelland distributed a copy of draft legislation (HR 3973) that he found on the Internet. This bill, as proposed will develop a pilot program for National Forests Rehabilitation and Recovery. It has many interesting elements and seems to fit what we have been putting together collaboratively in Trinity County. It might be something for the FSC to keep track of.
Larry Winter (Hyampom VFD) just wanted to get to know the Fire Safe Council, get on the mailing (emailing list) and work with the FSC and RCD on securing funding for critical fire safe and forest health projects that would help his community. Welcome to Larry!
Pat Frost promised to not report about Bill Britton’s upcoming retirement.
We adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
Next meeting will be December 8th at 7 pm at the Weaverville Fire Hall.
September 22, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD in Weaverville. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox began the meeting by welcoming everyone and having introductions. We had 7 attendees.
Review letters of Support on Proposed Projects (South Fork Management Unit)
Post Mountain Collaborative Stewardship Project:
Jones Burn Thin Project:
Hyampom Fire Collaborative Stewardship Project:
The group reviewed the three letters that Frost drafted, gave some comments and agreed to provide Frost with any specific suggestions before the letters are sent. Final letters are attached to these minutes.
Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)
Frost provided copies of the signed CWPP Certification and Agreement. It was signed by Howard Freeman, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Roger Chatterton, President of the Trinity County Chiefs’ Association and Marc Romero, Acting Unit Chief of the Redding Unit of CDF. The RCD will finalize the electronic version of the CWPP, with the signature page, place it on the RCD website, refer to it on the Fire Safe Council’s page on the CA Fire Safe Council website and submit it to the California Fire Alliance.
Community Fire Evacuation Plans
Frost described this piece of our overall fire safe program for communities and distributed some examples of evacuation plans that have been completed for other communities (e.g. Yankee Hill/Concow and Berry Creek). The discussion led to several recommendations: [1] use the volunteer fire departments as the sponsors of community meetings to get input, using our successful “bottom-up” approach; [2] organize planning through the 5 regions that are in the CWPP; [3] start community meetings with an update on what we’ve done since last meetings and ask now what are the priorities & how to we plan for evacuations; [4] get some common definitions on the various levels of evacuations and important terms before we start to go out to communities (e.g. “what does mandatory evacuation mean?”). RCD will take the lead on this & report back next month.
Project Updates
BLM: Walter Herzog reported on BLM activities. Planning a prescribed fire in October or November on the boundary between Whiskeytown & Grass Valley Creek (approximately 750-800 acres) and some shaded fuelbreak work along Hwy 299.
CDF Humboldt-Del Norte Unit: Hugh Scanlon passed around a copy of the draft 2005 Fire Management Plan for this Unit. He was recently advised that the Plan would need to be presented to the local governments, much like the Trinity County CWPP, for acceptance. This will be a bit more complex, because the Unit includes multiple counties. He hopes to be on the agenda in Trinity County in November, and will let the Fire Safe Council know the schedule.
Bob Mountjoy reported on the Hayfork Fire Protection District’s fund raising efforts for a new Public Safety Building, and distributed fliers.
Kenneth Baldwin reported on the following:
§ Post Mountain Collaborative Stewardship Project monitoring plan is complete and they have been setting up monitoring plots.
§ Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for CDF Vegetation Management – RCD and BBWA are working on this draft EIR, but they have received very few scoping comments thus far.
§ The first THP (called a PTHP) under the PTEIR is about to be submitted from the Browns Mountain area. The hope is that once a couple of landowners start using the PTEIR others will follow.
§ Watershed Research & Training Center has a new forester to work with landowners in the Hayfork area to try to encourage fuels reduction work on private lands to link to the RAC-funded work on USFS lands.
We adjourned at 9:24p.m.
Next meeting will be October 27 at 7 PM at the Trinity PUD
July 28, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD in Weaverville. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox began the meeting by welcoming everyone and having introductions. We had 12 attendees.
USFS Presentation on Proposed Projects (South Fork Management Unit)
Larry Hayes and Donna Harmon presented 3 projects for the Fire Safe Council to review and consider as follows:
Post Mountain Collaborative Stewardship Project:
Purpose: The Forest Service is working collaboratively with the Post Mountain Volunteer Fire Department and community members on a joint fuels management reduction plan and associated projects.
Need: To reduce the current fuel loadings to a more acceptable loading, which will reduce the possibility of a catastrophic fire in the Post Mountain area and promote forest health by thinning from below.
Goal: Reduce the severity of Wildland fire approaching or coming out of the Post Mountain area. Mitigate resource and property and damage on public and private lands.
Long term Goals: Implement and maintain proposed actions for this project and start working towards expanding this work further out from the community of Post Mountain. This project should serve as a model for Forest Service and community collaboration in the future to build fire safe areas around communities within the National Forest boundaries.
Jones Burn Thin Project:
Background: The Jones Burn project consists of 3,000 acres of densely stocked ponderosa pine plantations that were planted between 1960 thru 1965. Many of the stands are experiencing inner crown closure which is causing tree mortality because of insect infestation. The Health of the stands is declining and the fuel hazard is increasing. The health of the stands need treatment but are of an age that makes traditional treatments unworkable and uneconomic. Typical pre-commercial thinning treatments are unacceptable because of resultant fuel loadings and plantations are not yet attractive as stand alone timber sales because of the young wood characteristics and haul logistics.
Proposed Action: The proposed action for this project is to mechanically thin up to 1,000 acres of ponderosa plantations to approximately 100 trees per acre from about 400 trees per acre and to reduce the fuel loading. The thinning of stands will be accomplished by using tractor type equipment. Fuels reduction will be done by a masticator, whole tree yarding or traditional pile and burn techniques.
Purpose and need: the purpose and need for this project is to improve forest health by thinning the stands and reducing the fuel loading to an acceptable level in these intermediate age plantations. The project will also be designed to meet Hayfork AMA objectives of benefiting local economies in the utilization of the products and the services. The products being removed may be utilized as small diameter tree products of biomass. The project is planned to be implemented through a stewardship type contract.
Hyampom Fire Collaborative Stewardship Project:
Purpose: The Forest Service is working collaboratively with the community of Hayfork to develop a stewardship project to reduce fuel loadings and create a more healthy timber stand in the Hyampom fire area. The project will include completion of a fuel break on the north line of the fire. Thinning from below on the unburned forestlands adjacent to the private property boundaries. Fuel management zone will be developed along the forest/private boundaries.
Need: Forest health and fuels reduction on National Forest lands adjacent to the community of Hayfork.
Goal: Reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires threatening the community of Hayfork.
Long term Goal: Reduce the threat of catastrophic fires in the Hayfork stewardship boundary. This includes the community water source (Big Creek watershed) and private lands north and east of the Hyampom fire.
Group agreed to send letters of support. Frost will draft letters & send out for review.
Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)
Ingrid Landis attended the most recent California Fire Alliance meeting in Sacramento. It is clear that CWPPs will be a key piece of the puzzle for future funding. Organizations and projects that do not have an approved CWPP will get low priority. In fact, having a CWPP will be required. The CWPP is the “Plan” identified in the Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA). It should be a simple step for Trinity County Fire Safe Council to get its Plan approved. The HFRA requires that the plans be approved by the local fire departments, the local government and the CDF Unit Chief. The group agreed to [a] take the Trinity County Plan to the Fire Chiefs’ Association on August 1st and the Board of Supervisors on August 16th. Subsequently, we’ll send it to CDF. Frost will take the lead on this and present the Plan to the Fire Chiefs’ Association and the Board of Supervisors.
Project Updates
Heavy Fuel Load Mapping: Roger Jaegel gave a brief update of this effort.
Lower Trinity Management Unit (Six-Rivers): Rob McClelland indicated that they are working on NEPA for work in the down river area. It is an expansion of what has been done in the last couple of years & is a mix of USFS and private lands. He’ll let everyone know about upcoming public meetings. Six Rivers didn’t get any RAC funding for FY06.
BLM: Walter Herzog reported on BLM activities. They finished salvage operations on the French Fire (7.3M board-feet). This is in Shasta County, but some of it is right on the Trinity County line. There is a plan to do a prescribed fire near County Line South this fall (800 acres).
We adjourned at 9:21p.m.
No August meeting, due to County Fair. RCD will have booth with Fire Safe information.
September meeting will be September 22 at 7 PM at the Trinity PUD
May 26, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD in Weaverville. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox began the meeting by welcoming everyone and having introductions. We had 9 attendees.
Special Presentation
Roger Jaegel presented Carl Skinner’s PowerPoint slide show of the effects of various fuels treatments on fire behavior at the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest. A wildfire (the Cone Fire) burned through plots that had received a wide range of treatments [or no treatment, in some cases]. The group suggested that [a] we organize a field trip to visit the forest and [b] that the slideshow be presented to the Weaverville Community Forest group.
Contractors’ List
Roger shared the list that the Watershed Center developed through a contractors’ survey that they conducted recently. The list identifies contractors, contact information, the types of work they do, etc. The goal should be to have this information [for contractors doing fuels/forestry work] on a website that is accessible to landowners and organizations needing these types of services. Roger said that he’d check with Trinity Occupational Training (TOT), as this seems to be the kind of service that they provide in our county. Maybe there could be a small proposal to the Board of Supervisors (Title III) to support getting this up and running.
Map High Fuel Concentrations
Roger Jaegel said that the updated maps should be available by the July meeting.
Stewardship Contracting
Post Mountain: Ingrid Landis-Davis reported that things are moving along nicely. There is a meeting on June 3rd at which USFS will present some of the specialists’ reports. A lot of the “heavy lifting “ has been done by the Monitoring Committee. They have developed a set of goals and a list of what they think is most important to assess and why. This has been a very active committee.
Weaverville Community Forest: Frost reported that the energy has been put into getting the stewardship agreement finalized between BLM and the RCD. It is now out of the local office and being reviewed at the BLM State office. It is now time to reconvene the community & begin to talk some specifics of what project designs should look like. Frost suggested that the Fire Safe Council’s regular meeting in June be a Weaverville Community Forest meeting at the Weaverville Fire Hall. It was agreed to have this occur on June 23rd.
Project Updates
Trinity River Management Unit (Weaverville District): Steve Graves reported that the USFS has awarded 2 contracts to Firestorm for the Musser Hill & Garden Gulch Mastication projects (RAC FY05 funding) and these projects should start very soon. Steve shared maps that displayed what work has been done, what is scheduled for this season and what is before the RAC for FY 2006 funding. It shows a comprehensive approach to building the fuels projects around Weaverville.
He also shared some maps that show proposed work (NEPA first) in the East Fork Trinity River/Squirrel Flat area; Pettijohn area to help protect Late Successional Reserves (LSR) and that tie into the Cooper’s Gulch & Red Flat projects
We adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Next Meeting will be on June 23rd at 7 PM at the Weaverville Fire Hall – The Focus will be the Weaverville Community Forest.
July meeting will be July 28th at 7 PM at the Trinity PUD
April 28, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD in Weaverville. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Jesse Cox began the meeting by welcoming everyone and having introductions. We had 11 attendees.
RAC Update
Frost summarized the RAC process for FY 2006. The RAC fuels committee met in March and the full RAC met on April 18th, but only took up the proposals submitted under the “public” solicitation. There were $544,000 in proposals from the public and there are only $92,000 available. A subcommittee will meet on May 10th to look at these public proposals and develop recommendations for the full RAC (which meets on May 16th). A number of the public proposals have a fuels reduction theme. The RAC did approve using carryover funds for a number of existing fuels reduction projects being funded by the RAC.
Donna Harmon also reported that some AMA funds have become available and she has agreed to direct about $64,000 to the Lower Trinity District of Six Rivers NF in light of the fact that Six Rivers was not getting any FY 06 RAC funding for continuing fuels reduction projects.
A brief discussion on reauthorization of the County Payments program was held. It was agreed that the Fire Safe Council would send a letter of support similar to the one that the RCD sent. Frost will seek advise from Jim French on the timing of the support letter.
Jaegel brought up a related topic – “Cooperating Agency status”. The Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC) is working on this issue for counties. Counties, who have “Cooperator” status for federal projects have a greater role earlier on in the process and this can only help Trinity County when it comes to implementing our strategic fuels reduction program under our Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Rob McClelland said that he had researched this for doing work on private lands [with federal funds]. Cooperator Status would allow CEQA to be used as a NEPA equivalent.
Donna reported on her attendance at the National RAC meeting. She said that RACs are approaching things in a lot of different ways – multi-county RACs; RAC’s funding projects on private lands and a lot of examples of the community relationships that have been built though the RAC process.
Map High Fuel Concentrations
Roger Jaegel showed a draft of the map that was done based on the mapping exercise from the March meeting, and asked folks to double-check it for accuracy.
Living with Wildfire Insert
Frost passed around a draft of our “insert” page. It will feature the strategic fuels work being funded by the RAC throughout the county.
Community Chipper Program
Frost distributed draft fliers for this new project, which is being funded by the North Coast Air Quality Management District. The focus is on the 3 communities with the most likely air quality problems associated with burning – Weaverville, Lewiston & Hayfork. The goal is 15 days of chipping in neighborhoods in each of the three communities, for a total of 45 days of work by the RCD chipper & 2-person crew. This will be featured in the upcoming Conservation Almanac (RCD newsletter) and in an advertisement in the local press.
Project Updates
Trinity River Management Unit (Weaverville District): George Chapman reported that the USFS has awarded 2 contracts to Firestorm for the Musser Hill & Garden Gulch Mastication projects (RAC FY05 funding). The TRMU also now has Fireshed model up and running. This should be a great tool for prioritizing projects and long-range planning.
South Fork Management Unit (Hayfork District): Donna Harmon reported the status of NEPA as follows: Hayfork South and Highway 3 are just about done; Simms Fire restoration got some funding. Planning and community collaboration continues for the Post Mountain Stewardship project.
Lower Trinity (Six Rivers): Rob McClellend that they completed about 60 acres above Salyer, have started about 60 acres around Trinity Village. This work is associated with a grant the RCD has for strategic fuels reduction/defensible space on private lands in these communities. Frost reported that the Lower South Fork Road “fire safe” project was approved for funding by the CA Fire Safe Council, in large part because of the enthusiastic support by the community and the on-going projects by the Lower Trinity District.
Other Business
The Second Annual Fire Safe Councils of Northern CA workshop was held in Mt. Shasta April 22-24. There were some great sessions on biomass utilization, the role of Insurance industry in fire-safe programs and sharing by the many fire safe councils throughout northern California.
Jesse asked about assembling a list of contractors, who do defensible space/fuels reduction work. Roger said that he’d have Nick at the Watershed Center organize the list from his recent contractor survey & we’d review it at the next meeting.
We adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
Next Meeting will be on May 26th PM at the Trinity PUD.
March 24, 2005
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council meeting was held at the Trinity PUD in Weaverville. The meeting began at 7:00 pm. Pat Frost began the meeting by welcoming everyone and having introductions. We had 12 attendees.
Map High Fuel Concentrations
Roger Jaegel led this discussion and the subsequent mapping exercise. Roger distributed two (2) Issu
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