Alpine Watershed Group to present at April meeting.

Our first meeting led by a local group will be on Tuesday April 4^th at 6:00 pm at Turtle Rock Park, and will feature the Alpine Watershed Group (AWG).  The AWG will lead a group discussion of local fuels reduction projects and needs.  There will be a presentation about the Markleevillage Fuels Reduction Project, which is a 234 acre project in Pleasant Valley and Thornburg Canyon.  Funding for this project has been provided by a grant from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC).  The AWG, Alpine County, Alpine Fire Safe Council (AFSC) and the Carson Ranger District of the US Forest Service are partners in this project.

In addition the SNC will provide information about landscape level initiatives, including the Tahoe-Central Sierra Restoring Project, and Sierra-wide efforts like the Watershed Improvement Program (WIP).  There will also be an interactive exercise in which meeting participants will browse maps of the whole county in order to prioritize certain projects and areas of need.  This activity will provide an opportunity to discuss other fuels reduction needs in the county such as environmental planning, using the local workforce, and fuels reduction techniques.  Representatives from the Forest Service, SNC, AFSC, Alpine County, CAL FIRE, Bureau of Land Management, and other relevant agencies and landowners will share information about upcoming projects and provide input on priority-setting.  The prioritized project list created will be publicly available in order to provide guidance to groups looking to pursue fuels reduction projects in Alpine County.

Region 5 of the US Forest Service and the Sierra Institute are holding two back to back workshops in Sacramento on May 23^rd and May 24^th.  The theme of the first workshop is capacity building of community-based and other collaborative forest management groups in California and the theme of the second workshop is all-lands management.   The Alpine Biomass Committee can sponsor a limited number of people who would like to attend.  Details about the workshops are available here.

The April meeting is scheduled for Tuesday April 4th at 6:00 pm at Turtle Rock Park.

The Alpine Biomass Committee is supported by a grant from the National Forest Foundation with funds coming from Region 5 of the U.S. Forest Service.  This organization is an equal opportunity provider.