Tahoe National Forest Fuel Reduction/Forest Health Program

Fuel Reduction/Forest Health Treatments on the National Forest Tahoe National Forest (TNF) includes land primarily in 4 counties Nevada, Placer, Sierra, and Yuba. The map shows the fuel reduction/forest health projects completed in the past 10 years. These types of projects include forest thinning projects, prescribed burning, mastication work, hand pruning, and other forestry type work designed to reduce the forest fuels and to enhance the health of the forests. Reducing the fuels and enhancing forest health are one of our major emphases on the TNF not only to reduce the intensity of wildfire, but also to provide more community economic support as well as restoring forests ecologically. In the past 10 years the Forest Service has treated 197,000 acres forest wide or 43,000 acres in Nevada County using a variety of treatments some of which are on the same acres to maintain fuel reduction effectiveness. In 2012 we offered 39 million board feet of timber/wood products for sale. For eastern Nevada County, treatments have focused to the north and south of the Town of Truckee boundary to minimize fire moving from the National Forest into the Town and vice versa. For western Nevada County, treatments have a targeted Highway 20, east of Nevada City to aid as an escape route and as a strategic location to fight wildfires moving upslope on either side of the ridge and reduce the chance of them moving toward Nevada City. These treatments have been a part of the Nevada City Community Fuelbreak in collaboration with the Fire Safe Council, Resource Conservation District, and private property owners. In addition, treatment has also been focused in the San Juan Ridge area as part of the coordinated fuel break area with private property owners. In deciding where to plan treatments, we look at a number of criteria, including proximity to communities, called the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). However, in some of these areas, if valuable timber is sparse and/or if the ground is steep/inaccessible, then these are tough projects to plan and implement in such a way that they will have bidders. If we just do it without the timber sale component (e.g. just as a fuels reduction contract), these are often very expensive. That said, we do such contract fuels work with available funding in addition to projects involving commercial timber. Funds from the Forest Service to Treat Private Land Looking at the map, you can see the checkerboard land ownership pattern due to land grants dating back to the 1800s. The light green is National Forest and the white is private land. These private lands have the same fuel reduction needs as the National Forest. The Forest Service has provided almost $800,000 to groups like the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, Yuba Watershed Institute, and other organizations for treating the fuels on private property or BLM land in Nevada County. These grants are often made available through State Fire Assistance grants or via Resource Advisory Committee recommendations. Fuel reduction efforts

February 26, 2013

on private land from this funding have occurred near Graniteville, near the Town of Washington, near Snow Tent Springs, and east of Cascade Shores. These funds from the Forest Service also were used by the Fire Safe Council for their chipping program which has been very successful in assisting private land owners. Hindrances One of the biggest hindrances to removing more fuel/selling more wood products is the timber market itself which is not as healthy as it has been in past years. Out of the 39 million board feet offered for sale last year, 1/3 did not sell there were no bids the market is down. In addition, if projects were only designed for economics, we would only harvest the bigger or moderate size trees those are the ones that have the highest value. But the moderate trees do not contribute as much to the fire danger as smaller trees and brush. Thus there has to be a balance of treating the fuels which is expensive and harvesting a few moderate size trees for their value to help off set the cost of fuel reduction. The costs for different treatments vary from $250 an acre to $3,000 an acre. In addition, there are little economic incentives or markets for biomass and there is a lack of stability in the co-generation market. The Forest Service and others in this room have been working for several years to research and develop a biomass market. Some promising technologies are being explored which would benefit both the private land and the National Forest. In addition, the Regional Office for National Forests in California has been working with the California Public Utilities Commission, State legislature, California Energy Commission, air resources board, State Governor, and investor owned utilities, timber industry and environmental groups on this biomass issue. The Region and the Biomass Working Group are partnering with the California Energy Commission to generate demonstration programs for small-scale biomass facilities. A successful demonstration project could be used to jumpstart a number of small biomass facilities. Last December, the Forest Service and many partners including UC Berkeley sponsored a conference to provide information on biomass energy production, forest health and emerging small-scale bioenergy technology and the mechanics for locating and developing facilities in small communities. In summary - fuel reduction/forest health is a priority for us not only a priority for projects on the ground, but in supporting funding for local non-profits and in working to develop a market for biomass material. We have done a respectable job with the resources available. We have worked well with the county in the past and look forward to continuing that positive relationship with the County and with other partners including State agencies, the Fire Safe Council, other non profits, and the timber industry.

February 26, 2013