Fuels Reduction Program
Improving the forest while protecting homes from fire.
Hazardous fuels reduction
For two decades the Mattole Restoration Council has worked to restore the Mattole River watershed. The recent fires, and their impacts on the watershed, have highlighted the importance of improving fire safety and the health of our forestlands.
After developing the 2002 Lower Mattole Fire Plan, we realized that today’s forest conditions present significant threats to the Mattole’s health. Past logging practices and poor re-growth have led to stands of dense, young forests, both of which increase wildfire risks. The California Dept. of Forestry and Fire Protection considers most of the Mattole watershed to be at a very high risk of wildfire.
To address the situation, the Council created shaded fuel breaks along key public and private access roads using public funds. However, we have found that the need for fuels reduction work far outstrips available public resources to conduct it. Therefore, Council will work with private landowners who are willing to make an investment in their own safety to thin forests throughout the Mattole, using the proceeds from thinning byproducts to offset costs.
SUMMARY:
A century of fire suppression and decades of clear-cut logging have led to dense forests with a very high risk of catastrophic wildfire. Healthy Mattole forests need low-intensity fires to be maintained. The Council helps landowners thin and limb trees around homesteads and along roads to make forests and homes less vulnerable to severe wildfire.
The Council also works with the Lower Mattole and Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Councils on fire preparedness and roadside shaded fuel breaks. As the forest matures and this work becomes more widespread, fire may someday be safely returned to the watershed.
COMMUNITY SERVICES:
Are you concerned about keeping yourself and your family safe from wildfire? The Mattole Restoration Council has a program to help landowners clear limbs, brush, and dense stands of trees.
Please contact us to get started. The cost share program is currently full, however there is a waiting list.
Grant Funds Available for Spring 2010 Fire Safe Work
The MRC and Humboldt County have received a $100,000 grant for fire safety projects in the Mattole. This grant will fund the Fire Safe Forest and Homes program for 2010 and 2011.
Landowners are encouraged to apply for funding, which will help offset the costs of fire safe projects.
Please contact Andrew Nash at the MRC for program details.
Community Roadside Shaded Fuel Break Projects
• Wilder Ridge Phase I (Completed 2003)• Panther Gap (Completed 2004)
• Wilder Ridge Phase II (Completed 2006)
• Prosper Ridge (Completed 2006)
• Telegraph Ridge Phase I (Completed 2008)
• Telegraph Ridge Phase II (Completed 2009)
• Chemise Mountain / Usal Road (Beginning winter 2010)
Fire Safe Resources for Landowners
Fire Hazard Prevention Exemption (AB 2420)
Silvicultural and Operational Requirements• Decrease the horizontal and vertical fuel continuity
• Increase the average diameter of trees in the stand
• Size must be less than 300 acres
• Tractors are limited to slope angles less than 50%; -No construction of new roads on slopes over 40%; -No tractors on known slides or unstable areas; -No heavy equipment within standard WLPZ’s; -No disturbance of known rare, threatened, or endangered plant or animal sites; -No timber operations within the buffer of a sensitive species; -and any restrictions associated with a Special Treatment Area
• If within 500’ of a legally permitted structure or in an area prioritized as a shade fuel break in a community wildfire protection plan, then only trees less than 24” in diameter at stump height, measured at 8” above the ground, may be cut -If not, then only trees less than 18” diameter at stump height may be cut
• If the preharvest dominant and codominant trees are less than 14” diameter at breast height (dbh) then a minimum of 100 trees/acre over 4” dbh must be retained on Site I, II, & III lands and 75 trees on Site IV & V lands
• Stocking levels must be consistent with the maximum sustained production of high quality timber products consisting of healthy and vigorous dominant and codominant trees
• Stocking levels must be greater than 125 sq. ft./acre of basal area on Site I, 100 sq. ft./acre on Site II and III, 75 sq. ft./acre on Site IV, and 50 sq. ft./acre on Site V
• Treat surface fuels (logging slash, debris, low brush, and deadwood) to achieve an average 4’ flame length under average severe fire weather on 80% of the treated area • Ladder and surface fuels must be removed to achieve at least 8’ clearance from the base of the live crown to the top of the surface fuels • Minimum post-treatment canopy closure of dominant and codominant trees shall be 60%
• Treat fuels within 120 days from the start of the operations, except for burning operations, which shall be completed by April 1 of the year following surface fuel creation -overEmergency Fuel Hazard Reduction These are “emergency” rules that provide for the removal of trees for a variety of reasons (dead, dying, fire hazard, road repair, etc.) and include rules very similar to the Fire Hazard Prevention Exemption. Differences between the two that would affect landowners are as follows, otherwise all silvicultural and operational requirements are the same:
• Increase the average diameter of trees >8” in diameter in the stand
• Must be within ¼ mile from a legally permitted structure and have densities greater than 1 structure per 20 acres. If not, then within 500’ of a legal structure or within 500’ on either side of a public or federal road; within 500’ on either side of private road providing access to legal structures; within 500’ on either side of a ridge or mainline haul road approved by a public fire agency in a fire prevention plan as necessary for fire prevention or evacuation; within 500’ of infrastructure facilities such as transmission lines or water conduits
• Trees harvested must be less than 30” inside bark stump diameter
• Evaluate and incorporate fish, wildlife, and plant species considerations into the project. Examples include retention of large woody debris and snags, vegetation screening for wildlife cover and visual aesthetics (consultation with California Department of Fish and Game is recommended) Removal of Fire Hazard Trees within 150’ of a Structure Exemption This exemption provides for the removal and sale of trees within 150’ of a legal structure for the purposes of reducing fire hazard. New regulations regarding vegetation adjacent to buildings require the removal of potentially fire-spreading vegetation within 100’ of a building or structure. This exemption may be used to reduce costs associated with removing trees. Requirements are as follows: • Tractors are limited to slope angles less than 50%; -No construction of new roads on slopes over 40%; -No tractors on known slides or unstable areas; -No heavy equipment within standard WLPZ’s; -No disturbance of known rare, threatened, or endangered plant or animal sites; -No timber operations within the buffer of a sensitive species; -and any restrictions associated with a Special Treatment Area • All surface fuels larger than 1” in diameter, including logging slash, deadwood, and branches and brush killed by the logging, must be removed within 45 days from the start of timber operations
Whale Gulch Fuels Reduction
On May 7 Mattole Restoration Council workers, Andrew Nash, Jason Evans, and C. Moss worked with 6th through 8th grade Whale Gulch School students and teacher Steve Fry on a fuels reduction project adjacent to the school.Jason is shown here with students from the Whale Gulch School making a fire. Fuels reduction focuses on removing small diameter dead and suppressed material usually with chainsaws and handtools and disposing of the material in a safe manner. This reduces fire hazard and opens the forest up for improved landowner access.
This volunteer day is helping kick off a shaded fuel break project that will be completed along the thickly forested road through the Whale Gulch community: Chemise Mountain and Usal Roads. Thirty-two acres are slated to be treated along a 3 1/3 mile stretch of road. Forest is composed of second and third growth tanoak and Douglas fir and peppered with homesteaders who settled in this remote Southern Humboldt/Northern Mendocino community starting in the 70's. Heavy fuels provide the background matrix but many landowners have done fire safe-ing around their houses. This project is focusing on fire safe-ing the ingress and egress along one of two main roads accessing the Whale Gulch community. Whale Gulch is extremely susceptible to catastrophic wildfire due to the combination of heavy and low fuel loads and a steep landscape (fire travels uphill rapidly).
This project has been funded by the California Fire Safe Council and was selected over others to a large degree because of strong support in the Whale Gulch Fire Department and general community. The community has pledged over $12,000 in in-kind and cash donations to add to $94,000 in California Fire Safe Council funding.
Permits and permissions have been secured and work crews will be starting in May 2010 and finishing at the end of the year.
For questions and comments, please contact Andrew Nash at the Petrolia office.
