Loggers, conservationists agreed on how to tackle Tuolumne fire risk. You can comment
The Stanislaus National Forest has issued a detailed plan for reducing wildfire fuel in a stretch from roughly Columbia to Pinecrest.
The public has until Jan. 24 to comment on the plan, which would use logging, prescribed burning and other measures across 118,808 acres.
The plan reflects a consensus among local environmentalists, the timber industry and other partners about over-dense forests. The goal is a mosaic of treated and untreated patches that helps keep small blazes from exploding into disasters like the Rim Fire of 2013.
The work will provide logs to Tuolumne County sawmills while enhancing a Stanislaus River watershed that supplies part of the Northern San Joaquin Valley.
Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken could approve the project in February, after reviewing comments on its draft environmental impact statement.
The initial work in 2022 will be funded by a $5 million grant awarded in August by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The grant will create fuel breaks dividing the zone into several “pods” aimed at keeping fires relatively small. More funding will be sought in later years to do prescribed burning and tree thinning within each pod.
The grant was awarded to the county government and a coalition called Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions. The group deals with fire risk, recreation and other issues in the national park and adjacent national forest.
The partners agree that the Sierra Nevada has grown too dense with trees and brush. Lightning and Native Americans used to start fires that cleared out the undergrowth. Prescribed burns mimic that, conducted at times when they are unlikely to get out of control.
The logging in the new plan is of smaller trees, not the old growth that environmentalists want to save. The partners include Sierra Pacific Industries, which owns extensive timberland amid the national forest and sawmills in Standard and Chinese Camp.
The Tuolumne River Trust is involved in the project as part of its effort to protect watersheds. So is the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, based in Twain Harte.
The plan’s formal name is Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape. The comment period includes a virtual open house at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 5. Interested people can watch for log-in instructions on the forest website, www.fs.usda.gov/stanislaus.
