YSS in the Press and Stories of Interest

GOVERNMENT MOVES TO DISMISS RIM FIRE INDICTMENT

Sent: Friday, May 01, 2015 9:16 AM

Office of the United States Attorney

Eastern District of California

United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, May 01, 2015

www.justice.gov/usao/cae

Docket #: 1:14-cr-165 AWI

CONTACT: LAUREN HORWOOD

PHONE: 916-554-2706

usacae.edcapress@usdoj.gov

GOVERNMENT MOVES TO DISMISS RIM FIRE INDICTMENT

FRESNO, Calif. — The government has moved to dismiss the federal indictment against Keith Matthew Emerald, 33, of Columbia, California, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. The indictment alleged that Emerald had caused the Rim Fire, which burned approximately 250,000 acres of land, and that he had made a false statement to federal investigators regarding the origin of that fire.

In its motion to dismiss, filed today, the government advised the United States District Court that two witnesses had unexpectedly died in recent months, since the filing of the indictment last August. The government’s motion characterized one witness as critical to the case and stated that he had been expected to provide trial testimony regarding his discussions with Emerald shortly after Emerald had been rescued from the vicinity of the Rim Fire’s origin. That witness died in a workplace accident in February. The second witness was the helicopter pilot who first responded to the Rim Fire. That witness had been expected to testify about the initial response to the Rim Fire and the rescue of the defendant very close to the Rim Fire’s point of origin. That witness died in March of cardiac arrest. These witnesses’ prior statements are inadmissible hearsay and cannot be used as evidence at trial.

In its motion, the government stated that it had reassessed the case in light of the loss of this anticipated trial testimony and determined that without that testimony it was unlikely to prove the charges in the case beyond a reasonable doubt to the unanimous satisfaction of a trial jury. Accordingly, it was in the interests of justice to dismiss the case.

United States Attorney Wagner stated, “I appreciate the hard work done by the US Forest Service in investigating this case, and I understand that the government’s motion to dismiss will be frustrating to some. However, when circumstances change after indictment, and our judgment is that a case is no longer likely to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it is our obligation to the defendant and to the Court to dismiss that case.”

The United States Attorney also noted that the indictment contained only allegations; a defendant is always presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

 

 

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Forest restoration proposed

John Holland The Modesto Bee-March10, 2015

 Tree Planting Planned on Fire-Scarred Land

SONORA – The Stanislaus National Forest proposed to replant conifers on 30,065 of the acres burned by the massive Rim Fire of 2013.

The plan, which involves about 12 percent of the total burned acreage, has drawn initial support from timber industry and environmental leaders.

“We applaud the Forest Service for putting together a reforestation program that looks like it’s going to meet the needs of the forest, : said Mike Albrecht, owner of a Jamestown-based company that does logging and other work in the woods.  “But it’s unfortunate that it takes so long to get the reforestation plan together.”

The U.S. Forest Service has launched the first round of public comment on the proposal.  A refined plan could be released for comment in late fall, leading to a possible decision by Forest Supervisor Jeanne Higgins in 2016.  Planting could start in 2017, after seedlings are available from the Placerville nursery, and would take three to five years to complete, team leader Maria Benech said.

The plan does not cover private timberland within the burn area, which is being replanted by its owners.  It also does not involve land in Yosemite National Park, where recovery is being left to natural forces.

Even in the national forest, most of the charred land would not be planted.  Some of it is brush rather than timberland.  Some is too steep to plant.   And much of the fire zone had light to moderate damage, so regrowth can happen naturally via seed cones dropped by surviving trees.

The fire started Aug. 17, 2013, near the confluence of the Tuolumne and Clavey Rivers and eventually burned 257,314 acres.  IT is the largest blaze on record in the Sierra Nevada and the third largest in state history.  Keith Matthew Emeral of Columbia faces federal charges of starting the illegal campfire that is suspected to be the cause.

Environmental leader John Buckley said he has concerns about the reforestation plan, including herbicide spraying to kill competing vegetation, but agrees on the overall need to replant.

“Some forest stands were so incinerated by high-severity flames that no trees survived and few, if any, cones escaped to provide seeds to get new young trees growing,” he said.

Buckley is executive director of the Central Sierra environmental resource Center, based in Twain Harte.  He and Albrecht are co-chairmen of Yosemite-Stanislaus Solutions, a coalition that includes conservation groups, the timber industry and other partners.

They said the coalition will work to achieve a final reforestation plan that balances all the needs.   It did the same last year with the plan for salvage logging of some of the fire-killed trees, which is providing raw material to lumber mills.

Buckley questions the proposed planting density of 200-300 seedlings per acre.  This might make sense for lumber production, he said, but it could result in a forest thick with wildfire fuels.

Benech said the density would vary across the terrain, with fewer tees on fire-prone ridgetops and more in moister soil near streams.  The planting would be in clumps, as opposed to the rows in past plantations.

The seedlings would be genetically suited to the elevation and other conditions at each planting site.  They would take several decades to grow to a size for logging, and even longer in areas managed to mimic old-growth wildlife habitat.

Small parts of the fire area would be managed for deer, with an emphasis on oaks over conifers.  The plan also involves thinning conifer plantations that survived the Rim Fire and using herbicides on “noxious” weeds that have invaded some areas.

Sierra Pacific Industries, by far the largest landowner in the fire area, will replant about 11,500 acres this year and next, said Mark Pawlicki, director of corporate affairs and sustainability.  Two of the Redding-based company’s sawmills are in Tuolumne County.

SPI has completed salvage logging on its land, which made way for the planting crews.

“Our goal is to get the area replanting as soon as we can, get the forest started for the future,” Pawlicki said.

 

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Input sought on proposed Rim Fire reforestation plan

Guy McCarthy

The Union Democrat – March 2, 2015 

A proposal to replant and thin about 42,000 acres on the Stanislaus National Forest impacted by the 2013 Rim Fire is available online, and a 45-day period has begun for people to submit written comments to the Forest Service.

The deadline to submit comments is 11:50 p.m. Monday, April 13.

The proposal and comment period are steps in a process that will include a Draft Environmental Impact Statement.  The earliest the first trees in the reforestation proposed action can be planted will be spring 2017, said Georgia Dempsey of the forest’s Rim Fire Recovery Team.

By that time, more than three years will have passed since the giant forest fire blew up east of Sonora.  Between August, 2013 and October 2013, the Rim Fire burned 257,314 acres, including 154,530 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest and 77,254 acres in Yosemite National Park.

Salvage logging in the burn area had to happen first, and work on the proposed action for reforestation began in late October 2014, Dempsey said.

When the public comment period closes in April, a team of Forest Service resource specialists and scientists will review the comments to see if there’s anything they can include in the draft EIS, Dempsey said.  They hope to have the draft ready by late this year.

Multiple private groups and government agencies will take note of the proposed reforestation plan, including Yosemite-Stanislaus Solutions.  The YSS coalition has more than 30 member groups representing timber, bioenergy, mining, construction, utilities, water, agriculture, recreation, tourism, American Indian tribes, environmentalists and other interests.

“The YSS collaborative group has been eager for the Forest Service to move reforestation forward in the Rim Fire, so we are glad to see the release of a proposed plan,” said John Buckley, a co-chairman of Yosemite-Stanislaus Solutions.

“YSS looks forward to studying the details of what the agency is promoting and then submitting suggestions that may help avoid controversy and produce a final plan that has broad support,” Buckley said.  “Clearly there is a strong need for reforestation and a wide range of other restoration treatments in damaged portions of the burn area.”

The proposed reforestation plan includes possible usage of the herbicide glyphosate, Dempsey said.  Glyphosate is similar to a commercial herbicide sold at hardware stores.

“It does mention glyphosate, to help keep back competitive brush in replant areas, to allow tree seedlings to compete with the brush,” Dempsey said.  “It’s really similar to Roundup, which a lot of folks use in their backyards.  Forest Service and federal Fish and Wildlife scientists are looking at potential impacts from glyphosate.”

The Rim Fire Reforestation proposal and related documents can be found online at www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=45612.The proposal includes “reforestation, plantation thinning, wildlife habitat enhancement and noxious weed treatments on National forest System lands within the footprint of the Rim Fire,” Stanislaus national Forest officials said.

Forest Supervisor Jeanne Higgins urges people to review the proposal and share thoughts in writing.

“Written comments on the proposal are encouraged,” Higgins said.  “Knowing your thoughts, concerns and issues early on in the process is important to us.  To formally have your voice heard, it is necessary to send in your written comments during the open comment period.  Please include supporting reasons for your suggestions to help us better understand your perspective.”

Written comments can be submitted to:  Stanislaus national Forest, Attn:  Rim Reforestation, 1977 Greenley Road, Sonora, CA 95370.  Comments can be submitted by fax at 533-1890.  Comments can also be emailed with “Rim Reforestation” in the subject line to:  comments-pacificsouthwest-stanislaus@fs.fed.us.

Names of commenters will become part of the public record, according to the Forest Service.  For more information, contact Rim Reforestation Team Leader Maria Benech at 532-3671, ext. 463.

 

 

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John Buckley: When it comes to natural resource issues, give peace a chance

Letter to the Editor submitted to The Modesto Bee published 02/27/2015

Despite far below average snow in the mountains, many residents of the Central Valley may not fully grasp that California continues to be in the midst of a prolonged drought. But unless significant snowfall comes over the next two months, agriculture and other major water users will continue to face restricted water availability and citizens will be directed to make extra efforts to conserve water. The challenge is real and severe.

In the midst of the prolonged drought, it can be easy for one interest group or another to rip into those who represent competing demands or to castigate those with differing political priorities. As one example, a recent community column in The Bee featured strident views by a West Side grower (“State’s water troubles man-made,” Feb. 22, Page D1) who condemned Pope Francis, churches and schools for encouraging people to care about the environment when, from his perspective, it is business and agriculture that really matter. He lambasted environmentalists as earth worshippers and pagans.

Congress provides another embarrassing example of such polarizing outbursts that further divide politicians and their constituencies instead of bringing legislators and competing interests together to resolve common challenges.

In direct contrast to such high-profile polarization, there are current examples of diverse interests putting aside differences to actually cooperate to solve problems. In the Stanislaus National Forest, one forest landscape collaborative process with a broad range of interests has already gained approval for millions of dollars in extra funds to apply to logging for thinning, prescribed burns, road reconstruction and other needed forest treatments in the Mokelumne River watershed.

A second collaborative with even more diverse participation is the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions group. With timber industry, environmental, business, agency, tribal, ranching and recreation interests all collaborating, YSS has already gained major grants and is making progress in gaining millions of additional dollars to be directly applied to restoring the Rim fire landscape and reducing watershed damage.

Along with these two efforts, a third collaborative group has focused more narrowly on water and watershed issues across the upper watersheds of the Tuolumne and Stanislaus rivers. Environmentalists, local politicians, tribal representatives, water agencies and other interests have met monthly for more than seven years to focus on areas where we can find consensus – not where we disagree. As a result of showing respect for opposing views and working to find agreement, the Tuolumne-Stanislaus Integrated Regional Water Management group has successfully gained millions of dollars in state bond funds to benefit water districts and watershed management in the local region.

As is often evident on certain news stations, at political meetings or in columns, it can be easy to take potshots at those with different views or those who hold different priorities. But when the goal is to identify common interests and find ways to achieve them, opponents aren’t seen as the enemy but as potential partners.

As a longtime environmental leader dealing with a wide range of controversial issues across this vast region, it is my experience that respectful strategies and sensitivity to opposing views gain far more in the long run than denigrating opponents as evils to be overcome.

Congress in particular might want to give it a try. John Buckley is executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center of Twain Harte

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County vies for Rim Fire recovery funding

Excerpt from the article by Guy McCarthy

The county has been chosen as California’s sole candidate in a nationwide disaster resilience competition.  Tuolumne County’s final application, with backing from Gov. Jerry Brown, could win a badly needed cash infusion to improve forest management, promote healthier watersheds and prevent more giant forest fires in the Mother Lode. Competition organizers intend to promote risk assessment and planning, and they hope to fund “innovative resilience projects” to better prepare communities for future extreme events.

“Here in Tuolumne County, we are most assuredly fully eligible due to the magnitude of the Rim Fire and its economic consequences,” said John Buckley of the central Sierra Environmental Resource Center in Twain Harte.  “The completion, however, will judge whether the application put together by state staff and county interests ends up being compelling and convincing. “

Member of the county’s water policy advisory committee discussed the potential to bring additional millions in funding to Rim Fire recovery efforts on Thursday, and people with the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions group met Friday to talk strategy.

For the complete article see the Union Democrat, January 26, 2015 Edition

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Timber insiders debate harvesting

Excerpt from article by Guy McCarthy, The Union Democrat

“In Region 5 – California – we grow in excess of 4.3 billion board feet a year but we only harvest 300 million board feet a year,” said Hanvelt citing timber industry statistics. ”That means’ we’re putting 4 billion board feet into the forests each year. It’s fuel we’re putting into the forests, and we’re burning the state down.”

Either much of the extra growth will burn, or there are opportunities to take some of the extra growth out as saw logs or biomass so there’s less fuel for wildfires, John Buckley of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource said.

Forest Service scientists, Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions member groups, and elected officials agree there needs to be more low intensity prescribed burning as well as thinning and biomass, Buckley said. ”But today it’s not just the need to do logging, it’s the need for all interests to promote the broad range of treatments that combined will actually make a huge difference.”

So industry needs to support prescribed burning as well as biomass removal and other fuel reduction treatments such as mastication and shredding even though they might even though they might not generate profits,” Buckley said. ‘And conservation groups and business interests need to support all treatments including biomass and thinning, because in the big picture by doing all these treatments in a proactive way we’re less likely to have another Rim Fire.”

Sonora-based Yosemite Stanislaus solutions is billed as a group of diverse stakeholders working together to help federal land managers strive for healthy forests and watershed, in the Rim Fire burn scar and other areas in need of rehabilitation.

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Success Happens One Seedling at a Time

USDA-Forest Service

Regrowing a forest, following a wildland fire, starts in the most unusual fashion.  Tree climbers trained in cone collection scale tall trees throughout National Forest Lands and collect pine cones ripe with seed.  Bushels of the cones are then sent to the U.S. Department of Agriculture nursery in Placerville where they are processed, from kiln drying the cones, to shaking out the forest debris, to x-raying the seeds in order to check for viability.  Boxes of seed are held in cold storage at zero degrees for up to ten years, mimicking winter conditions on the Forest.  When needed, these seeds are then germinated and grown into sapling sized trees that are used to reforest areas that have been impacted by fire.

Last year, the nursery grew 3.2 million seedlings for just that purpose.    By 2017, the Stanislaus National Forest will be the recipient of many of these nursery trees which will be used to reforest a portion of the land burned by the Rim Fire.  Time is needed to get the saplings tall and hardy enough to survive the competitive environment of our wild lands.

Successful reforestation is already in the mix and it starts with the nursery staff that carefully tends thousands of small trees knowing that in their hands lies our next forest.

“Getting trees back on the ground is an important part of the recovery process,” said Marty Gmelin, Forest sivilculturist.  “Trees help to stabilize the landscape by lessening erosion.  That equates to better drinking water downstream.”

For many Mother Lode residents, hope comes in the color green.   Forest personnel and a dedicated community are bringing that dream to reality, but it takes time and planning.  This winter, an open house will occur allowing interested stakeholders an opportunity to offer valuable feedback on the reforestation plan that is currently under development.  In the meantime, our future forest is placed in the capable hands of the nursery staff that is busy sorting, planting and watering our seeds.

Removing the fire-killed trees was a necessary step in preparing the ground for tree planting.  Since May, one million board feet of salvageable wood has been logged on the Forest each day.  That equals about 200 truckloads of burned trees leaving the Forest daily since operations began.  Site preparation needs to occur before seedlings can be put in the ground.  Removing dead wood, that can fuel intense fires later, helps to ensure the survival of the newly planted saplings.

“Regrowing our nation’s forests following wildfires like the Rim Fire is truly one of the greatest joys of my job,” says Sara Wilson, Forestry Technician, who works at the Placerville nursery.  “At the nursery, success happens one seedling at a time.”

For more information, go to: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/stanislaus/home/?cid=stelprd3821706

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Ideas sought on forest replant

Excerpt of article by John Holland, Modesto Bee, December 6, 2014

Now it’s time to plan for the Rim reforestation. The national forest is hosting a Dec. 16 open house in Sonora to hear ideas from the public. Even in the national forest, most of the Rim fire acreage will not be replanted. Some of it burned lightly or moderately, leaving enough trees to provide natural seeding via cone drop. Some of it is non-conifer forest along streams, which grows back especially fast.

Reforestation is not without controversy, notably over spraying of herbicides on vegetation that competes with the young pines, firs and cedars. But it’s possible that many environmentalists will agree with the timber industry on the general need for replanting, just as they have with the salvage logging approved for some of the fire area.

Planting, would not start until spring 2017 at the earliest because of the need to order seedlings of the right type and amount from the U.S. Forest Service nursery in Placerville. The trees will be carefully grown to ensure they are genetically suited to each site’s elevation, soil and other factors.

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Judge upholds rim fire logging

YSS News

Excerpt from article by Alex MacLean, The Union Democrat

US District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on Monday denied a third consecutive request to delay the Forest service’s “salvage logging” project, this time while the plaintiffs appeal his previous decisions on the matter.  The Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Island Institute and California Chaparral Institute jointly filed the lawsuit against the Forest Service over a plan to remove fire-damaged and fire-killed tees from about 30,000 acres of the forest. The 2013 Rim Fire burned about 257,000 acres in the Central Sierra over a 70-day period from August to October, with about 154,000 acres confined to the Stanislaus National Forest.

Supporters of the logging project – a group which includes local environmentalists and timber operators – argue that a prolonged delay could lead to the burned wood becoming useless before it can all be cleared.  Burned wood is said to lose its value within about two years of a fire.

John Buckley, executive director of the Twain Harte-based central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, said removing dead trees is important in reducing the risk of future large wildfires and preparing the area for reforestation. Stopping the progress would likely result in taxpayers having to pay to remove the wood at a later date, Buckley said.

Carrillo said the groups could still ask the Ninth Circuit judge for an injunction on the logging while awaiting a hearing on the pending appeal.  She said a decision by the appellate court on the injunction could come within a month, though hearings on the actual appeal likely won’t begin until early next year.

Meanwhile, the Forest Service has estimated that logging crews have hauled out nearly 100 million board-feet of timber from the burned areas as of Oct. 31.  That includes work completed since May on a separate project to remove hazardous burned tress from along 194 miles of high-use roads.  That project will not be affected by the ongoing lawsuit.

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Groups appeal judge’s veto of logging injunction

Excerpt from article by Alex MacLean, The Union Democrat 

Several environmental groups suing the US Forest Service over an ongoing project to remove dead and damaged trees within the Stanislaus National forest burned by last year’s Rim Fire have appealed a federal judge’s October decision denying a preliminary injunction that would have halted the logging work until the case is over.

The 2013 Rim Fire burned more than 257,000 acres in the Western Sierra Nevada, including about 154,000 in the Stanislaus National Forest. Logging contractors have been working since late September to remove burned trees from about 15,000 acres of severely scorched terrain and 17,000 acres near roads and developed facilities, such as campgrounds and recreation areas.

Susan Skalski, the former Stanislaus National Forest supervisor who signed the order that authorized the logging project, and the Forest Service are named as defendants in the lawsuit. Several “intervenors” have stepped up to help the Forest Service defend the project in court, including the American Forest Resource Council, California Forestry Association, William and Mary Crook, Sierra Pacific Industries, California Farm Bureau, Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, and Tuolumne County.

Local environmental groups, including the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Agency and Audubon Society, support the Rim Fire salvage logging because they say the burned wood could fuel large wildfires and impede reforestation efforts in the future.  Industry groups and timber operators also say the work will help sustain logging jobs in the area. Supports of the project say an injunction to halt the logging work during the court process could endanger the future of the project because burned wood loses its value within about two years following a fire.

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Rim Fire Topic of Discussion

Excerpt from article by Guy McCarthy, The Union Democrat

Overgrowth in the Stanislaus Forest contributed to the intensity of the Rim Fire, and it remains a serious issue in more than 80 percent of the forest that did not burn, according to the Forest Service and panelist Tim Tate of Sierra Pacific Industries.

Part of the challenge in recovery efforts has been finding and building consensus among local concerned interests, said Mike Albrecht, of Sierra Resource Management in Jamestown, who chairs the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions group of loggers, environmentalists, government agencies, and others who support Forest Service projects to remove burned timber from the Rim Fire area. “There are very strong environmental groups that don’t want us to cut dead timber, they don’t want us to salvage the timber, and those groups don’t live here with us, but they have a strong influence.  They have a lot of money.  They have a lot of impact. “And we decided we really needed to make a statement on that,” Albrecht said.  “And that was a big deal because we had to get all 25 of our members to agree that, even though we all disagree how much timber should be salvaged, we all agree that some timber should be salvaged.”

In discussion, some Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions members were more focused on minimizing fire risk, rather than growing wood for the American people, John Buckley said. “It doesn’t mean that one (point of view) was a higher or lower priority, but recognizing that there were complex different priorities that could be considered out there,” Buckley said.

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Judge Clears Way for Rim Fire Logging

Excerpt of article by Alex MacLean, The Union Democrat

The U.S. Forest Service’s major logging project to remove dead trees from the area burned by last year’s Rim Fire cleared another legal hurdle Tuesday when a federal court judge denied the second attempt by environmental groups to halt the work. U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. denied a preliminary injunction sought by the Center for Biological Diversity, Earth Island Institute and California Chaparral Institute. He said that the Forest Service had met all requirements under the National Environmental Protection Act in studying the logging project’s potential impacts on the California spotted owl.

“In his first decision, he very clearly pointed out that the Forest Service had taken all the necessary steps to show it was thoroughly evaluating all of the potential effects,” said John Buckley; executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center.  Buckley; an environmentalist, formed an unlikely alliance this year with local loggers as a member of the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, a forest-project planning group that includes other environmental organizations, logging companies and governmental agencies in the region.  The group advocated for the Forest Service’s plan to remove burned trees across about 30,000 acres in the Rim Fire’s footprint, producing up to 210 million board-feet of lumber – enough lumber to build roughly 13,000 homes.

Buckley called Tuesday’s decision a ”win-win” for the timber industry as well as local environmentalists who are concerned about wildfires in the Stanislaus National Forest, where the fire burned about 154,000 acres.  He added that the amount of logging approved by the Forest Service is a fraction of the total 254,000 acres burned by the fire. “This is good because, (the project) will remove some of the excess fuel that would create high potential for yet another catastrophic fire,” he said. “It will allow (logging contractors) to get it out while the wood still has value, rather than have taxpayers pay for the fuel to be removed in the future.”

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