The Watershed Center Awarded Nearly $7 Million by the CAL Fire Forest Health Program

The Watershed Research and Training Center (WRTC) has recently been awarded nearly $7 million by the CAL FIRE Forest Health program to implement the Southern Trinity Fire Resilience Project (Project).

The Project is designed to restore forest health, protect watersheds and communities, promote long-term storage of carbon in trees and forest soil, and minimize the loss of forest carbon by increasing forest wildfire resilience. The Project builds on over a decade of work and seeks to increase the geographic scope, pace, scale, and overall impact of WRTC’s forest management and fuel reduction efforts throughout Trinity County.

The Project footprint is considerable, but with a special emphasis on South Fork Mountain and the communities of Hyampom and Hayfork. Approximately 2,144 acres of strategic, landscape-scale fuel reduction treatments will be completed across public and private lands in an “all lands” approach. We are partnering with Trinity Timberland’s land managers at Baldwin, Blomstrom, Wilkinson and Assoc., Inc. (a private consulting company specializing in conservation-based forestry), Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests, and local landowners—including five private lands that have submitted Letters of Participation/Commitment to complete work on the ground. We are partnering with the Trinity County Fire Safe Council to conduct landowner outreach through their Neighborhood Ambassador Program.

Manual and mechanical treatments will be implemented on 1,264 acres and prescribed fire on 880 acres, linking to past and current efforts, through a combination of fuel break establishment on strategic ridges and roads and private lands fuel reduction treatments. All work is, and will continue to be, analyzed under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) or the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), depending on the ownership or management of the land. CEQA and NEPA require those utilizing public funding to inform decision makers and the public about the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects.

A 475-acre fuel break treatment on Trinity Timberlands will be planned and implemented within their inholding on South Fork Mountain and Pelletreau Ridge. WRTC will also partner with the Shasta-Trinity and Six Rivers National Forests to design and coordinate a 3,000-acre fuel break, continuing along South Fork Mountain. An additional 187 acres of fuels reduction treatments will be completed on federally-managed lands as part of the Pelletreau Ridge Fuel Break, which is surrounded by the Trinity Timberlands property. The 2015 Route Fire burned across 7,587 acres. These treatments will make Trinity Timberlands more resilient to future fires, benefiting both adjacent landowners and the forest overall. Nearly 42 miles of Roadside Brushing will be implemented along forest roads linking the South Fork Mountain and Pellatreau Ridge Fuel Break areas with the private lands.

Hand thinning, chipping, piling, machine piling, and mastication will all be utilized to reduce risk to wildfires. Updates and expansions to existing burn plans along with new burn plan development will occur in eastern Hyampom and northwestern Hayfork. Areas where hazardous fuels reduction are being implemented will also be evaluated for future prescribed fire potential.

Prescribed fire site preparation, broadcast burn implementation, and pile burning will be taking place in and around Hayfork and Hyampom on private lands strategically located within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) priority areas. Burn unit objectives will focus surface fuel reduction and understory vegetation, to reduce wildfire intensity, rates of spread, flame lengths, and crown fire potential. Prescribed fire will be implemented when weather and fuel conditions meet prescribed fire objectives, and where landowner permission, environmental compliance, and permitting (air quality, CAL FIRE) have been completed.

Hayfork and Hyampom readers: Reducing the density of vegetation and both living and dead fuels helps minimize the damage, intensity, and severity of wildfires. Firefighters have a better chance of protecting homes and other infrastructure if these treatments are done across the landscape and next to buildings. Please consider participating in these projects when the Watershed Center sends outreach materials to you or knocks on your door. Participating landowners will be prioritized depending on their location. In some cases, field surveys are required to complete CEQA compliance activities.

Workforce Development Trainings required for prescribed fire qualifications and implementation of this Project, including NWCG fire trainings and on-the-job training, will be made available to Watershed Center staff and the Trinity Integrated Fire Management Partnership. Improved forest health is a benefit to all! The Watershed Center Forestry and Fuels, Fire Management, and Outreach teams can’t wait to connect with you and execute this crucial resource management and community protection work.