March – April, 2024 Blog

There were no March or April meetings as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working Group (FHCWG) which has been hosting a series of meetings on forest health and resilience, the Community Wildfire Protection Plan etc.  In the meantime, this blog will be published at least every two months or 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.

Prescribed Fire Workshop:  In cooperation with CalFire, the FHCWG is planning a prescribed fire workshop for sometime mid-summer.  It will be open to land management agencies, contractors, regulatory agencies, and interested members of the public.  More information will be available in the coming months.

AnnaBelle Monti Leaving the Forest Service:  Annabelle Monti is leaving the Forest Service after many years of dedicated service to the people and forests of Alpine County.  She will be sorely missed.  The County will be recognizing her at the Tuesday April 16^th Board meeting at 9:35 am or shortly thereafter.   Below is a note from her.

“After almost 15 years on the Carson Ranger District, it’s time for a change of pace for me.  I’ve accepted a position with VM West, a private vegetation management company based out of Colorado.  As their Chief Contracting Officer, I will be able to focus on the fun parts of what I’ve always done, just from a different perspective.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have had the time I did with the Forest Service and in being able to work in places like Alpine County.  And while the challenges have often times felt insurmountable, I feel so fortunate to have gotten to work alongside people who care.

Since I will be staying in the area, I will be in Alpine County often – you all know it’s my home away from home!  Thank you for allowing me to be part of a great community, and I hope to continue that in my new position.”

Thank you Annabelle, and best of luck in your new adventure!

Arbor Day:  The FHCWG is hosting the second annual Arbor Day tree planting in Alpine County.  Meet at Turtle Rock Park at 9:45 am Friday April 26^th for orientation, and then the planting will be focused on Curtz Lake, just up Airport Road from Turtle Rock Park.  There will be lunch back at Turtle Rock Park along with discussions about the Turtle Rock Park visioning process and ongoing restoration efforts.

Tamarack Restoration:  NV Environmental has reported that they have planted 160,000 trees to date on private land with an additional 30,000 trees to be planted in the fall.  This includes replanting efforts supported by the Farm Services Agency and those under Alpine County’s Emergency Fire Restoration Team which has been funded by Region 5 of the Forest Service.

Tamarack Aerial Seeding:  The Forest Service will begin aerial seeding of approximately 4,000 acres of the Tamarack Fire on or about April 22^nd.  Reseeding areas include West of Turtle Rock, the ridge above Millberry Creek, Pleasant Valley Road, Poor Boy ridge, and the Monitor Pass – Little Cottonwood Canyon and Big Springs areas.  Seed mixes will include various blends of mountain big sagebrush, western yarrow, rocky mountain bee plant, prairie junegrass, Lewis flax, bottlebrush squirreltail, thickspike wheatgrass, Great Basin wildrye, Sandberg bluegrass, Antelope bitterbrush, Palmer’s penstemon, arrowleaf balsamroot, blue wildrye, Idaho fescue, mountain snowberry, and mountain brome.

January – February, 2024 Blog

There were no January or February meetings as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working Group which has been 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 or 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.

WIP Conference:  The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is hosting its annual Watershed Improvement Program (WIP) conference in Sacramento from 9 am to 1 pm on March 8^th.  For details or to register go here.  The conference connects California policymakers to Sierra-Cascade issues that resonate across the state.  The annual WIP conference is always well attended by senior officials from federal and state agencies as well as all the non-profits working on forest health, watershed, and economic issues in the Sierras.  If anyone else intends to attend and is interested in carpooling please contact dGriffith.9@gmail.com.

Biochar Conference:  Don Hittenmiller was able to attend one day of the 2024 North American Biochar Conference In February.  Although there are many types and subtypes of biochar, it is essentially fine- grained charcoal.  It is used as a soil amendment and can be converted into activated carbon to be used in water treatment and other industrial uses.  It is an important primary product or byproduct of converting biomass into synthetic natural gas for use in small electric generation facilities.

Eastern Sierra Climate & Communities Resilience Project (ESCCRP):  To the South of us, in Mono County, the Whitebark Institute has been making great progress on what used to be called the Mammoth Lake Doughnut project.  Originally conceived as a 56,000 acre fuels reduction project in the Inyo National Forest to protect the town of Mammoth Lakes, it has now been expanded to include a biomass utilization facility (probably bioenergy) and local workforce development.  It essentially includes all the Inyo National Forest managed lands between the Town of Mammoth Lakes and neighboring Wilderness Areas.  To learn more go here.  It’s a great example of a community that cares about its environment taking the initiative to protect themselves from catastrophic wildfire by doing what is necessary to restore forest health and resilience.

November-December 2023 Blog

There were no November or December meetings as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working Group which has been 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.

Emergency Fire Restoration Team (EFRT) wins the US Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region 5 Forester’s Award for Post-Fire Recovery and Disaster Relief.  Alpine County’s EFRT won the award for their work administering the $1.8 million in grant funding dedicated to private land restoration and recovery in the aftermath of the Tamarack Fire.  The EFRT consists of Clint Celio, State & Private Forestry Project Manager, JT Chevallier, Economic Development Director & State & Private Forestry Program Manager, and Matt Setty, Permitting and Project Implementer (NV Environmental).  The EFRT received support from the Carson District Ranger Matt Zumstein and most importantly from Anna Belle Monti, the Carson Ranger District’s Vegetation Management Officer.

L to R: Matt Zumstein, Matt Setty, JT Chevalier, Clint Celio, Anna Belle Monti (photo by Kisten Setty)

EFRTs working to restore and recover after other major fires in California were not able to make nearly as much progress as Alpine’s EFRT has, which is why the Alpine EFRT won the award.  Congratulations!

Carson Mill Ribbon Cutting.  On Monday Tahoe Forest Products had the ribbon cutting for their new sawmill immediately south of Carson City.  Production has started, at least of sawdust!  Over the next two to three months production will ramp up and the mill is expected to be in full production producing lumber.  Once the mill is in full production sawdust will be sold to composters and others for soil amendments.  The mill is located on Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California land, and in part is an economic development project of the Tribe.  Congratulations to Tahoe Forest Products and all those that worked with them to bring the project to fruition.

Initial Production – Sawdust photo by K. Leary

While the initial feedstock will be from the Caldor and possibly Tamarack fires, the mill will make it possible to economically increase fuels reduction throughout the region.  It solves the problem of what to do with the excess medium and larger trees, but we still need an economic solution for the excess smaller biomass material.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

October, 2023 Blog

There was no October meeting as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working Group which has been 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.

Economic Diversification:   Part of the ABC’s mission statement is to “… promote … local economic development.”  There are currently three(!) economic development studies underway involving Alpine County.  The Central Sierra Economic Development District (CSEDD) which is composed of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, and Alpine counties has released its Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for public comment.  The deadline for submitting comments is 30-nov-2023.

The Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) Eastern Sierra Region, comprised of Mariposa, Tuolumne, Calaveras, Amador, Inyo, Mono, and Alpine counties is working on a regional economic development strategy and has up to $14 million to help kickstart economic development projects in the region.  More information is available here.

The Eastern Sierra Region CEDS has essentially been completed and covers Inyo, Mono, and Alpine counties.  The public comment period is over, but you can download a copy of the next to final version here and go to agenda item 10.5 which starts on page 230.

One of the common recommendations in all three is the development of a stewardship economy, although they sometimes refer to it as a forest economy.  A stewardship economy “… comprises three intersecting categories of activities which: 1) promote stewardship of land and water resources; 2) develop rural economies and create jobs; and 3) provide education and job training opportunities for community members and advocate for beneficial policies at the state, regional, and national levels.”  (see Building a Stewardship Economy: Insights from Community Innovation in the Rural American West)

A stewardship economy will not replace our tourism/recreation, and government economy, but compliment it and diversify it.

September, 2023 Post

There was no September meeting as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working 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 Working Group:  The County has applied to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy for a grant to develop a strategic plan to help the community move forward in improving the forest health and resilience in our surrounding forest with strong community involvement.

Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) Strategic Plan:  The SNC is updating its five-year strategic plan, and is seeking public input.  Take this 10-minute survey and help guide the focus of the SNC’s work going forward.  The SNC is a strong supporter of communities in the Sierra Nevada and deserves our support.

Tamarack Fire Restoration – Tree Planting:  The Alpine Watershed Group, Sugar Pine Foundation, and U.S. Forest Service are sponsoring a tree planting event on Saturday Oct. 21^st beginning at 9 am at Turtle Rock Park.  Some 700 seedlings need volunteers to plant them.  More information is available here, and to volunteer please register here.

Aspen Celebration:  Friends of Hope Valley’s Aspen Celebration will be held Sat. Oct. 7^th and Sun. Oct. 8^th from 10 am to 3 pm at Picketts Junction (Hwy. 88 & 89 in Hope Valley.  Come for the fall colors, stay for the adventure.  Learn about aspen ecology, conservation, and fun facts.  Free nature and history hikes.

Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission:  The Commission was established by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and was charged with the task of creating recommendations that address nearly every facet of the wildfire system.  Their final report with recommendations for Congress was just released and can be found here.  All that we have been learning over the last few years is contained in the report, with additional information on the public health and workforce development aspects of reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire.  At 340 pages it is comprehensive and more than most will consider reading, but the three-page Executive Summary is worth the effort.

Eastern Sierra Towns To Trails Plan:  Some 28 members of the public attended the Towns to Trails meeting and gave much needed local input into the planning process.  The planning team will be back for a second public meeting towards the end of the year or early in 2024 for further local public input.  More information is available here.

Correcting the maps

Musser and Jarvis Watershed Restoration:  The Alpine Watershed Group has released its monitoring report on the restoration work that was done after the Tamarack Fire in the Musser and Jarvis watershed.

Storm Crow Restoration:  The North American Land Trust published a short article on the restoration on the Storm Crow property after the Tamarack Fire.  It is immediately north and west of Markleeville.