[env-trinity] Forest Service rehabilitates burned land

[Josh Allen]

Forest Service rehabilitates land 

4/12/2007  

http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=22748 

Land rehabilitation in the areas of the Trinity County Bar Complex and
Junction fires continues after a devastating fire season in the
Shasta-Trinity National Forest. 

Rehabilitation efforts are focused on reforestation, fuel reduction,
slope and channel stabilization, road and trail restoration, public
safety, invasive weeds, wildlife and riparian habitats, according to a
U.S. Forest Service news release.

Of the 3,126 acres burned in the Junction Fire on July 29, 2006, 303
acres were on National Forest Service System lands. 

"An emergency does not end when a fire is contained," said Trinity River
Management Unit Ranger Joyce Andersen in the news release. "We have a
lot of post-fire recovery work to do. So far, we have received $66,000
to begin our burned area emergency response on the Junction Fire."

BAER dollars will go toward rehabilitating areas within the Junction
Fire area. The Forest Service will use those dollars to complete
numerous projects, including riparian stabilization in the area above
Weaver Creek. 

Additionally, 35 tons of certified weed-free straw will be spread on
both sides of State Highway 299 along the steeper slopes of Oregon
Summit to stabilize soils, minimize deterioration in water quality and
reduce sediment and debris movement.

This week, Shasta-Trinity National Forest officials received $19,000 in
national fire rehabilitation funds to reforest areas within the Junction
Fire area.

The Forest Service is also continuing restoration efforts on the Bar
Complex Fires, which were started by lightning July 23, 2006, and burned
slightly more than 100,000 acres. 

Officials have committed $98,000 to rehabilitate trails in wilderness
areas impacted by the fires.

While forest visitors will see the Forest Service responding to the
needs of backcountry hikers and trail enthusiasts in the Trinity Alps
Wilderness, they won't find officials removing fire-killed trees in the
wilderness. Ninety-two percent of the land burned during the Bar Complex
Fires is within congressionally designated wilderness areas. The
Wilderness Act protects the wilderness values and precludes tree
removal, unless there is an immediate danger to life, according to the
news release.

Almost all the remaining land burned is designated as roadless area. To
remove fire-killed trees here requires approval from the state of
California and the chief of the Forest Service, as well as an
environmental impact statement. The Forest Service will remove hazard
trees this summer along the Manzanita Ridge Road, east of Big Flat
Campground, an area that provides access to a Trinity Alps Wilderness
trailhead. 

The Forest Service has been meeting regularly with the Trinity County
Board of Supervisors to collaboratively work through wildland fire
issues.

"We are working together to identify opportunities to reduce fuels in
the county, including prescribed fire, mechanical fuel reduction
treatments and thinning, which will reduce the impacts of a catastrophic
wildfire," Andersen said. "One way for the public to reduce the risk
from a wildfire is to create defensible space around their homes."

In January 2005, a new state law became effective that extended the
defensible space clearance around homes and structures from 30 feet to
100 feet.

Research on a 1990 wildland fire that destroyed nearly 500 homes near
Santa Barbara showed 78 percent of the houses with 30 feet of clearance
survived, compared with 38 percent of those without any control. 

Proper clearance to the new 100-foot standard would dramatically
increase the chance of a house surviving a wildfire, according to Forest
Service officials. Firefighters say thinning the brush in the immediate
vicinity of a home creates a "defensible space" where firefighters can
make a stand against a blaze.

For more information on defensible space and how to prepare for this
year's fire season, visit the Shasta-Trinity National Forest Web site at
www.fs.fed.us/r5/shastatrinity or contact the nearest Forest Service
ranger station.



 

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