CAL Fire has announced funding for 94 wildfire prevention projects across the state, with a big chunk of money coming to Tuolumne County. In total, $90 million is being awarded. Read more here: Mymotherlode article
YSS in the Press and Stories of Interest
Stanislaus National Forest OKs plan to further reduce wildfire risk. What it would do
The Tuolumne River Trust is a coalition member, concerned about this watershed and nearby land. Executive Director Patrick Koepele praised the draft plan when it was released. “This work has been incredibly important for the health of the watershed and the protection of the community,” he told The Modesto Bee by email. The Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, based in Twain Harte, also has been involved. Read more here: Modesto Bee Article
Stanislaus National Forest publishes its decision on 110,000-acre project
The SERAL 2.0 project is expected to contribute to improved habitat, reduced wildfire risks, reduction of invasive weeds, improvement of old-growth forest conditions, and commercially marketable timber to support the local economy, according to the Forest Service. Read more here: Union Democrat Article
A Groveland Bike Club Lands Presidential Honor
“We are deeply honored to receive this recognition from the White House,” said Dwight Follien, the President of the Groveland Trail Heads. “Having this award presented to us by the Groveland Ranger District personnel is especially meaningful, as they, along with the Stanislaus National Forest, have been incredible partners since our inception in 2013.” Read more here: Full Article
Nearly Half a Million Trees Planted in Rim Burn Scar
The Stanislaus National Forest has planted 493,000 trees in under three weeks this spring to rehabilitate the Rim Fire burn scar. Led by the Groveland Ranger District, the project aims to restore the forest devastated by the 2013 Rim Fire, which burned over 257,000 acres. Read full article here
Local Forest Health Project Receives $6.9-Million In Funding
Some of the other partners who have been involved include the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions collaborative, the Stanislaus National Forest, and the Tuolumne River Trust. Read more here: Mymotherlode article and here: Union Democrat Article
Tribe and Others Receive Funding
At its most recent meeting, the state agency (SNC) approved a $920,000 grant to the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians to complete the environmental planning efforts for a 2,895 acre forest health project on tribal land. The Tribe’s land management plan aims to reduce fuels to protect forests and infrastructure from wildfires and drought. Read more here: Full Article
The Smokey Wire : National Forest News and Views TSW Exclusive: A Tale of Two SERALs- Making Landscape Scale Resilience Happen With the Stanislaus Forest and YSS
In an interview, the first thing that Supervisor Kuiken pointed to was the efforts of a collaborative group called Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions.
“After decades of adversarial “wrangling” over forest management policy, 25 local industry, environmental, and recreational groups decided it was time to focus on what we could agree on,” said Mike Albrecht, president, Associated California Loggers.
“When we sat down together, we found out we agreed on a lot, and so Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS) was born. YSS agreed to salvage logs from the Rim Fire, get it reforested, develop a fuel break network to protect our local communities, and restore meadows, streams, and wetlands to better health,” Albrecht said. “This agreement has gotten us national attention and subsequent funding to undertake large “landscape level” forest management projects. This would not have been accomplished without the close 3-way partnership between Tuolumne County, YSS, and the U.S. Forest Service. Kudos to everyone that has worked so hard to make this happen!” Read more: https://forestpolicypub.com/2024/02/29/tsw-exclusive-a-tale-of-two-serals-making-landscape-scale-resilience-happen-with-the-stanislaus-forest-and-yss/
Planting Trees to Replenish Forest in the Rim Scar
This past weekend, Forest Service employees, including Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken, rolled up their sleeves and got to work unloading a truck full of seedlings at the Groveland Ranger District. In all, the forest received 355 boxes of sugar pine, Douglas fir, and incense cedar saplings. Read more here: https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/3315822/planting-trees-to-replenish-forest-in-the-rim-fire-burn-scar.html?ct=t(RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN)
Stanislaus National Forest Awarded $57.6M in Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape FY24 Funding
SONORA, Calif. (January 11, 2024) – In an incredible show of faith and recognition for work already accomplished, the Stanislaus National Forest recently received its annual budget for work on the Stanislaus Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape of $57.6 million.
“This funding level is a clear indicator that we are on the right path with our work and should continue at full speed,” said Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor, Jason Kuiken. “Not only is that apparent as people drive up Highway 108 and see with their own eyes the work, but it’s an acknowledgement all the way from Washington, D.C. that this work should continue.”
Part of the Forest Services’ Wildfire Crisis Strategy, the Stanislaus National Forest is currently into year three of a ten-year, 305,000 acres project to reduce fuel loads on the forest through a variety of methods to include mechanical thinning and the application of prescribed fire.
“We are extremely proud of all of the work done by staff on the forest, but it must be noted that additionally, we could not have accomplished anywhere near the pace and scale of these accomplishments were in not for our partnership with Tuolumne County and the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions Collaborative (YSS),” said Kuiken.
Noting YSS member group Tuolumne River Trust was responsible for project management and inspection on fuels reduction contracts award by Tuolumne County, Kuiken was keen to point out their efforts were critical in increasing Forest Service capacity.
“We are excited to be able to continue to make progress on the work we began several years ago. The partnership between the Stanislaus National Forest and the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions collaborative is truly a model with few comparisons anywhere else in the country. Like so many people who live, work, and recreate in and around the Stanislaus National Forest, I am grateful that our nearby forest and watershed health will be protected for years to come.”
Comprised of outdoor enthusiast, conservations organization and industry partners, the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions has been critical in the success of the Wildfire Crisis Landscape.
“After decades of adversarial “wrangling” over forest management policy, 25 local industry, environmental, and recreational groups decided it was time to focus on what we could agree on,” said Mike Albrecht, president, Associated California Loggers.
“When we sat down together, we found out we agreed on a lot, and so Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS) was born. YSS agreed to salvage logs the Rim Fire, get it reforested, develop a fuel break network to protect our local communities, and restore meadows, streams, and wetlands to better health,” Albrecht said. “This agreement has gotten us national attention and subsequent funding to undertake large “landscape level” forest management projects. This would not have been accomplished without the close 3-way partnership between Tuolumne County, YSS, and the U.S. Forest Service. Kudos to everyone that has worked so hard to make this happen!
To learn more about the Stanislaus Landscape project, please visit the Forest’s dedicated Stanislaus Landscape website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/STFLandscape.
Questions or concerns should be directed to Stanislaus National Forest Public Affairs Officer, Benjamin Cossel, benjamin.cossel@usda.gov, 209.288.6261.
20-year study confirms prescribed burning, forest thinning reduce risks of catastrophic wildfire
A 20-year experiment in the north-central Sierra Nevada recently confirmed what many local, state and federal agencies have been saying for years — that forest management techniques such as prescribed burning, restoration thinning, or a combination of both, effectively reduce risks of catastrophic wildfire in California. Read more here: https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_49296bda-b029-11ee-95f7-171698d01d03.html?utm_source=uniondemocrat.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1704988814&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
New project more than doubles size of fire reduction work in Stanislaus National Forest
The SERAL 2.0 proposal includes the use of prescribed fire, hand thinning, mastication, mechanical forest thinning, non-native invasive weed control, and limited salvage operations. The project’s objectives include increasing landscape resilience to wildfires and other disturbances; to reduce the spread of non-native vegetation; to reduce safety hazards across public lands; and to provide economic opportunities to local communities. Read more at: Union Democrat Article
A decade later, lessons from Rim Fire
Mike Albrecht said, “Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions continues to emphasize proactive forest management policies and practices to get ahead of the problem, including “thin the forests before they burn; after thinning, reintroduce prescribed fire into the forest; continue to develop strategic fuel breaks; and when the forest does burn, salvage the burned timber while it retains value and then replant the burned areas as quickly as possible.”
John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center in Twain Harte, is also active with Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions. An immediate lesson learned was that doing scattered piecemeal fuel reduction projects, timber sales, mastication of brush, and isolated prescribed burns simply wasn’t going to be enough to prevent more Rim Fire type catastrophes. “That led the YSS forest stakeholder group to come together stronger than ever before to work to get tens of millions of dollars in grants to supplement the work that the Forest Service was already planning to accomplish,” Buckley said.
A second key lesson from the Rim Fire is that sincere collaboration and a willingness to work for middle ground can result in win-win benefits for nearly every stakeholder. Environmentalists and the local timber industry negotiated separately from the Forest Service and came up with a strong fire salvage logging plan that produced roughly 200 million board feet of dead trees off national forest land to supplement the huge amount of dead trees that were also salvage logged on private forest lands.
“Because all the YSS stakeholder interests supported the compromise salvage logging plan, it managed to gain Forest Service approval and got implemented without any legal delays that would have meant a lot of the wood could have rotted,” Buckley said. “By working for consensus middle ground on the issue of salvage logging and then the following debate over how to do national forest reforestation, YSS set a national example — showing the benefits of diverse stakeholders working together in a spirit of compromise and cooperation.” Read more here: https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_f00782c2-3d5e-11ee-a213-0f43cd2b81ba.html?utm_source=uniondemocrat.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1692370820&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline
$3.7 Million Approved For Forestry Efforts In Tuolumne County
The funding stems from the Master Stewardship Agreement Tuolumne County has with the Stanislaus National Forest and the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions group. The money will benefit the SERAL project that is focused on forest restoration efforts across 117,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest. Read more here: https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/3210167/3-7-million-approved-for-forestry-efforts-in-tuolumne-county.html?ct=t(RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN)