May, 2023 Blog

There was no May meeting as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Work Group which are hosting a series of meetings on forest health and resilience, the Community Wildfire Protection Plan etc.  In the meantime, this blog will be published once a month so if you have any message that relates to the ABC mission statement that needs distributing, please let me know at dGriffith.9@gmail.com.

Forest Health Community Work Group:  The County and the Forest Health Community Work Group hosted a very successful Arbor Day event last week.  There were over 100 attendees and about 30 students from the school, and about 500 trees were planted in Turtle Rock Park.

Photo by KatyJo Photo

Photo by KatyJo Photo

More photos are available here.

Planned meetings and activities over the next few months include:

• May 23rd, 5:30pm, Turtle Rock Park – Presentation on homeowners’ insurance by the Insurance Commissioner’s Office and Community Wildfire Protection Plan Public Meeting
• June 27th, 5:30pm, Turtle Rock Park – Restoration Projects in the Tamarack Fire
• July date TBD – Field Trip on Fire History and Forest Health in Eastern Alpine County
• August date TBD – Field Trip on Specific Projects in Eastern Alpine County

April 2023 Meeting Summary

The April meeting was attended by 14 members of the public and agencies.  Since no actions were taken there will be no notes for this meeting, only this summary.

Dr. Alexandra (Ali) Urza of the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station gave a presentation on research on the effectiveness of fuel treatments at the landscape scale.  Roughly 30% of a landscape needs to be treated to reduce the risk of a landscape destroying fire.  With respect to protecting communities, the location and maintenance of fuel breaks are critical to their effectiveness, but without the presence of suppression resources such as on-the-ground firefighters their effectiveness is limited.  When suppression resources are not present only 1% of fuel breaks can stop a fire on their own.  She included the Tamarack Fire in her presentation and provoked an fruitful discussion on how and why Markleevillage escaped destruction.

The video of her presentation and subsequent discussion will be available here for the next month.  The papers it is based on are available here and here.

Participant updates:

• Brian Newman (CalFire) reported that as the snow melts they will be engaging in defensible space efforts.
• Clint Celio (Alpine County) reported that The Wildfire Risk Mitigation page on the County’s website continues to be updated. The Burn Permit Guidelines have been updated.  Celio gave an update on the restoration progress on private lands on the Tamarack Fire burn scar.  So far about 25 property owners have applied.  He also commended the AWG for helping set up the Forest Health Community Work Group (see below).  He later reported that there now were three Firewise Communities in Alpine County.  Questions can be sent to wildfire@alpinecountyca.gov.
• Don Hittenmiller (ABC) encouraged the BLM to consider more fuels reduction on their land North and West of Turtle Rock Park.
• Rachel Keiffer (AWG) reported that the AWG will have a meeting on Tuesday May 9^th here at Turtle Rock Park with a presentation on range management by Brian Morgan, and they are advertising for a Forest Health Coordinator.
• ?? (BLM) reported that like the Forest Service the BLM is receiving additional funding.
• Matt Crosswait (BLM) reported that the BLM will be doing hazard tree removal around the Indian Creek Campground and the Curtz Lake and Summit Lake trails. They will be doing some sagebrush replanting on the Tamarack burn scar.  There is no date yet for opening the campground.  Interpretive signs will need to be updated and replaced.
• Rich Harvey requested a presentation from the Insurance Commissioner’s office to address homeowners’ insurance in the WUI. He described some of the home hardening measures that are being required.  Griffith agreed to get someone from the Insurance Commissioner’s office.
• Griffith reported that he and Celio attended the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force (WFRTF) meeting in Sacramento. It was most encouraging to see Region 5 of the Forest Service and the State agencies working closely together to improve forest health and resilience, and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire.  The WFRTF is making good progress on their 99-point Action Plan.

Forest Health Community Work Group:  The County has formed the Forest Health Community Work Group with a mission “to create fire-safe communities and restore our forests and watersheds to a healthy and resilient state. We engage community members and local groups to provide educational opportunities and civil discourse so that we can make progress on living amidst a more resilient forest.”  Currently the Work Group includes representatives from the County, Forest Service, CalFire, Alpine Watershed Group, Alpine Fire Safe Council, and Alpine Biomass Collaborative.

Planned meetings and activities over the next few months include:

• April 20th, 6:30pm, Turtle Rock Park – The Future of Forests and Our Lives Connected to Them by Dr. Lauren Oakes
• April 28th, 12 noon, Turtle Rock Park – Arbor Day TRP Visioning with restoration discussion and tree planting
• May 23rd, 5:30pm, Turtle Rock Park – Community Wildfire Protection Plan Public Meeting
• June 27th, 5:30pm, Turtle Rock Park – Restoration Projects in the Tamarack Fire
• July date TBD – Field Trip on Fire History and Forest Health in Eastern Alpine County
• August date TBD – Field Trip on Specific Projects in Eastern Alpine County

Future Meetings:  During the next few months the ABC will be not be having regular meetings as the County will be sponsoring a series of meetings and tours related to forest and wildfire issues as noted above.  Suggestions for future topics that are consistent with our mission statement are welcome.  Please send suggestions for future speakers to dGriffith.9@gmail.com.

Fuel Treatment Effectiveness

Our next meeting will be at 6:00 pm on Tuesday April 4^th at Turtle Rock Park.  Dr. Alexandra (Ali) Urza of the Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station will be making a presentation on maximizing the effectiveness of fuel treatments at the landscape scale.

Biography:  Ali Urza is a Research Ecologist with the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station in Reno, NV.  Her research focuses on forests and drylands of the western US, using a mix of methods to study ecosystem responses to fire, invasive species, climate change, and management treatments.  She works closely with federal, state, and tribal land managers to address knowledge gaps and develop science-based solutions to current challenges.

Abstract:  Maximizing the effectiveness of fuel treatments at the landscape scale is a key research and management need given the inability to treat all areas at risk from wildfire, and there is a growing body of scientific literature assessing this need.  A team of scientists at the Rocky Mountain Research Station was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program to conduct a review on landscape-scale fuel treatment effectiveness.  In this talk, Dr. Ali Urza will describe what they found and discuss the outstanding knowledge gaps.

Alpine Sierra Speaker Series:  Along with the Alpine County Democrats and the Alpine County Friends of the Library, the ABC is co-sponsoring a talk by Laura Oakes hosted by the Alpine Sierra Speaker Series Committee entitled “The Future of Forests and Our Lives Connected to Them.”  It will be at 6:30 pm on Thurs. April 20^th at Turtle Rock Park.  While different from the scientific presentations normally hosted by the ABC, Ms. Oakes explores people’s relationship to the forest at the personal level.  More information is available here, or by contacting Jill Trainer at jillmtrainer@gmail.com.

Future Meetings:  There will be no meeting in May to avoid a possible conflict with a County hosted meeting on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan.  Please send suggestions for future speakers to dGriffith.9@gmail.com.  Presentations need to be on topics that relate to our mission statement.

Thanks to Alpine County Public Health for their support.

February Meeting Summary

The February meeting was attended by 13 members of the public and agencies.  Since no actions were taken there will be no notes for this meeting, only this summary.

Dr. Jonathan Kusel of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment gave a presentation on the work the Sierra Institute has been doing to restore forests, create jobs, and rebuild hope in the Indian Valley area of Plumas County after a series of wildfires.  This culminated with the 2021 Dixie Fire which burned down almost the entire community of Greenville.

Alternative approaches to improving forest health and resilience:  A lengthy discussion was held on how best to engage the broader community in addressing the need to restore our forests to a healthy and resilient state.  Consensus was reached that the ABC could not take the lead on this as it was associated in the public’s mind with a potential “biomass facility” which was rejected by the voters in Measure D.  An informal committee will try to come up with possible alternatives.

Other Items of Interest:  Fire is not the only threat to our forests.  The Forest Service has released it’s 2022 Aerial Detection Survey of tree mortality in California.  Some 36 million trees were killed in California by biological agents during the period between the 2021 and 2022 surveys.  In Alpine County the number of trees killed was approximately 1.2 million, mostly California red fire and white fir that were killed by the fir engraver beetle.  When there are too many trees for the available nutrients and moisture the trees are stressed and not able to resist pests.

Participant updates:  Due to the meeting running late the only update shared was that the Carson Ranger District has a new Deputy District Ranger, Duncan Leo.  He has been part of the Humboldt-Toiyabe for many years and at one time was the Acting District Ranger for the Carson Ranger District

Future Meetings:  There will be no March meeting and instead people are encouraged to attend a still to be announced meeting that the County will be hosting on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP).  Suggestions for future topics that are consistent with our mission statement are welcome.  Please send suggestions for future speakers to dGriffith.9@gmail.com.

Recognition:  A special thanks to Alpine County Health and Human Services Public Health Dept. for the grant that is covering our costs this year.  In recognition there will be some public interest messaging promoting a healthy lifestyle in our meetings and this blog.

Recovery After a Million Acre Fire

Our next meeting will be at 6:00 pm on Tuesday February 7^th at Turtle Rock Park.  Dr. Jonathan Kusel of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment will be making a presentation on a community’s recovery after the 2021 one-million acre Dixie Fire.  There was a lot of interest in learning about what went right and what went wrong during the 2018 Camp Fire that burned through the city of Paradise, and the County sponsored a well-attended town hall meeting with the Butte County Sheriff and others.  This meeting will be how a community can recover after a major fire by taking advantage of new opportunities.

There will also be a discussion on what, if anything, can be done to improve forest health and resilience at the necessary pace and scale now that Measure D has prohibited a biomass facility in eastern Alpine County.

Biography:  Jonathan Kusel is founder and executive director of the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment.  He received a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Sociology and Policy from U.C. Berkeley, where he taught before launching the Sierra Institute in northern California.  He holds a Masters in Forest Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Dr. Kusel helped lead a team evaluating community and social implications of climate change in the Sierra as part of California’s 4th Climate Assessment in 2018, and also led a team that built a small biomass-powered energy facility for rural Plumas County’s Health and Human Services Center.  The facility is housed in the first full cross laminated timber building constructed in California.  Dr. Kusel helps coordinate and facilitate the South Lassen Watershed Group, a landscape collaborative group involving over 25 groups and agencies focused on a one-million-acre area that begins at the top of Mt. Lassen.  He also leads a Sierra Institute team that coordinates the Sierra to California All-lands Enhancement (SCALE) project that convenes landscape collaboratives from across the State of California including Alpine County to share lessons with state and federal agencies and advance peer learning.

Abstract:  The 2021 Dixie Fire burned through the Sierra Institute’s home community, destroying much of the town of Greenville.  Working with partners, Sierra Institute is now building single-family cross laminated timber homes to help residents who lost their homes in the Dixie Fire and pilot home and community hardening using mass timber.  The Institute is also partnering with local businesses to make productive use of the burned timber and provide good paying jobs for residents.

Measure D, which bans “biomass facilities” from eastern Alpine County, passed overwhelmingly.  There will be a discussion of what alternatives there might be that could help improve forest health and resilience at the necessary pace and scale.  It is hoped that people on both sides of the argument over Measure D will participate.  The problem of declining forest health and resilience, and increased risk of severe fire isn’t going away on its own, so we do need to come up with something.

Future Meetings:  To avoid meeting fatigue and not conflict with upcoming County meetings on the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), our meeting schedule will shift to every two months until June or August.  In March, May, and maybe July the County will be hosting meetings on the CWPP.  Please send suggestions for future speakers to dGriffith.9@gmail.com.  Presentations need to be on topics that relate to our mission statement.

Thanks to Alpine County Public Health for their support.

When stress arises, take a break and meditate.