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ENLARGE
The yellow and blue shaded areas in this map show the proposed shape of a large wildfire break uphill from Grass Valley and Nevada City.
A fifteen-mile fuel break plan to keep wildfire from raging downhill into Nevada City and Grass Valley or uphill into the Tahoe National Forest has caused some concern.
Environmentalists want more information on the project and have questions about wildlife and logging profits but admit to endorsing the concept of fuel breaks.
The Nevada County Resource Conservation District wants to clear small trees and brush on a 15-mile swath, 1,500 feet wide a few miles north and east of the towns. The break runs from Round Mountain east to the Washington CYA conservation camp, hinges on Highway 20 and runs south down the east side of Scotts Flat Lake and Cascade Shores.
"It's a band of dramatically reduced fuels," said Robert Ingram, chair of the conservation district's forestry subcommittee. "We're trying to give firefighters a chance to fight a high, wind-driven fire event."
Ingram is also an employee in Grass Valley of Sierra Pacific Industries, the largest wood products and logging firm in Northern California. He said his association with the firm and the shaded fuels break plan has nothing to do with money.
Environmentalists want more information on the project and have questions about wildlife and logging profits but admit to endorsing the concept of fuel breaks.
The Nevada County Resource Conservation District wants to clear small trees and brush on a 15-mile swath, 1,500 feet wide a few miles north and east of the towns. The break runs from Round Mountain east to the Washington CYA conservation camp, hinges on Highway 20 and runs south down the east side of Scotts Flat Lake and Cascade Shores.
"It's a band of dramatically reduced fuels," said Robert Ingram, chair of the conservation district's forestry subcommittee. "We're trying to give firefighters a chance to fight a high, wind-driven fire event."
Ingram is also an employee in Grass Valley of Sierra Pacific Industries, the largest wood products and logging firm in Northern California. He said his association with the firm and the shaded fuels break plan has nothing to do with money.
"Generally, corporations don't ask for federal funding" to cut on their own lands, Ingram said. Much of the land SPI has near Cascade Shores has already been cleared, Ingram said, except for two tracts.
Conservation district Manager Lisa Osterholm said the committee is seeking $5 million in federal funds to do the clearing over the next six to 10 years. The project involves brush clearing and thick-stand thinning to achieve lower fuel loads and is not a front for SPI, Osterholm said.
"The funding is to give to the landowners to do the work," Osterholm said, so they can choose what they want done and who they would like to hire. "If we don't do something, there will be nothing left to save" in the event of catastrophic fire.
"Mother Nature doesn't quit, so we can't either," Ingram said. "Some landowners are willing to do it but don't know how" or can't afford the $500 to $1,200 per acre cost of clearing.
The break is designed to stop a raging blaze like the 49er Fire of 1988, which was whipped by prevailing winds. Ingram said those winds can drive fire downhill from the northeast to southwest or uphill from the southwest to northeast.
"Twenty percent is already done," Osterholm said, by private landowners, SPI and some of the government agencies who have a seat on the forestry committee, including the Tahoe National Forest, BLM, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, BLM, The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County and Nevada Irrigation District.
Conservation district Manager Lisa Osterholm said the committee is seeking $5 million in federal funds to do the clearing over the next six to 10 years. The project involves brush clearing and thick-stand thinning to achieve lower fuel loads and is not a front for SPI, Osterholm said.
"The funding is to give to the landowners to do the work," Osterholm said, so they can choose what they want done and who they would like to hire. "If we don't do something, there will be nothing left to save" in the event of catastrophic fire.
"Mother Nature doesn't quit, so we can't either," Ingram said. "Some landowners are willing to do it but don't know how" or can't afford the $500 to $1,200 per acre cost of clearing.
The break is designed to stop a raging blaze like the 49er Fire of 1988, which was whipped by prevailing winds. Ingram said those winds can drive fire downhill from the northeast to southwest or uphill from the southwest to northeast.
"Twenty percent is already done," Osterholm said, by private landowners, SPI and some of the government agencies who have a seat on the forestry committee, including the Tahoe National Forest, BLM, the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service, BLM, The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Fire Safe Council of Nevada County and Nevada Irrigation District.
"We're not after large trees," Osterholm said. "We're after fire-safe properties and a shaded fuel break, leaving trees" while protecting wildlife and three watersheds, the Yuba and Bear Rivers and Deer Creek. "We thought collaboratively we could put up a major fuel break" and not just rely on the county's fire plan.
Friends of Deer Creek scientist and Secretary-Treasurer John Vanderveen wants to see documentation on how the project adheres to the California Environmental Quality Act and how it would address sediment control and water quality problems.
"Since most of the land is on the Deer Creek watershed, we're interested," Vanderveen said. But he was quick to add that fuel breaks done right make sense and cited the Tahoe National Forest work along Highway 20 near the 5 Mile House.
Outgoing Supervisor Peter Van Zant said Ingram's attachment to the project caught his attention, and he wondered if taxpayers' money would be going to cut SPI land.
But Van Zant said he had no knowledge that SPI would profit and he was delighted to hear Ingram's explanation that the firm will not.
"The question wasn't malice," he said.
Friends of Deer Creek scientist and Secretary-Treasurer John Vanderveen wants to see documentation on how the project adheres to the California Environmental Quality Act and how it would address sediment control and water quality problems.
"Since most of the land is on the Deer Creek watershed, we're interested," Vanderveen said. But he was quick to add that fuel breaks done right make sense and cited the Tahoe National Forest work along Highway 20 near the 5 Mile House.
Outgoing Supervisor Peter Van Zant said Ingram's attachment to the project caught his attention, and he wondered if taxpayers' money would be going to cut SPI land.
But Van Zant said he had no knowledge that SPI would profit and he was delighted to hear Ingram's explanation that the firm will not.
"The question wasn't malice," he said.
What it would do
The "shaded fuel break" is a fire-protection plan designed to block wildfire from spreading downhill into Nevada City and Grass Valley or uphill into the Tahoe National Forest.
The break's proposed location is based on previous fires and prevailing wind patterns. The project is purely voluntary for private and public landowners.
The 1,500-foot-wide swath of underbrush-cleared land would extend more than 15 miles and is expected to take about 10 years.
Contact the Nevada County Resource Conservation District for more information at 272-3417.
