YSS in the Press and Stories of Interest

Bolstered by a $55.1 million dollar investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we have begun the required work of thinning the forest to a stand density the best available science tells us is proper for healthy forests. We’ve begun building fuel breaks around those communities at serious risk for wildfire — an added layer of security for those residents and a location fire fighters can make a stand, and we are moving to protect the critical infrastructure dotting our landscape without which our communities would perish.

All of this is being done in a way that brings our varied stakeholders to the forefront of our efforts. Working in concert with Tuolumne County and the 31-member collaborative Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions as our major partner groups, we can more deftly engage from conception to execution. The challenge before us is vast, and the only way in which we will succeed is by partnering with our stakeholders to find common ground and bring forth the future we all want to see.  Read more here:  https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_0d967b86-fa93-11ed-8edd-8334a80438ec.html?utm_source=uniondemocrat.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1685026805&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

Partners with the corps include Mother Lode Job Training; Columbia College; Sierra Resource Management; Yosemite Adult School; Cal Fire Local 2881; National Federation of Federal Employees; Forest Service Council 2995; Associated California Loggers; Sierra Pacific Industries; TuCare; Tuolumne River Trust; Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions; and the Sierra Resource Conservation District.  Read more at:  https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_201e68da-ef77-11ed-9344-ab362add5b83.html?utm_source=uniondemocrat.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1683817219&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

Of note, just under $7-million will fund the fourth phase of a landscape restoration effort within the 2013 Rim Fire footprint. Over 257,000 acres were burned and 90,000 acres suffered high-intensity fire damage. The money will help prepare, reforest, and treat, over 3,000 acres. Read more here:  https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/3060178/nearly-7-million-awarded-for-rim-fire-reforestation.html?ct=t(RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN)

One of 10 landscapes identified in the Forest Service’s 2022 initial landscape investment as part of the Wildfire Strategy, the 10-year Stanislaus Landscape Project will look to treat more than 245,000 acres through a full suite of necessary methods including the use of prescribed fire at the landscape scale. It was selected as a fireshed where the greatest impact can be made on reducing wildfire risk and protecting communities. Read more at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/features/protecting-stanislaus-landscape

The project is billed as the largest green forest management project in the 124-year history of the Stanislaus National Forest. The project is planned on an area that totals 118,808 acres of public and private lands, including 94,823 acres in Forest Service jurisdiction, according to Katie Wilkinson, a project team leader and environmental coordinator for the Stanislaus National Forest. Read more at:  https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_775a8d6e-03e0-11ed-8415-cfadbed3a8f3.html?utm_source=uniondemocrat.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Flists%2Fheadlines%2F%3F-dc%3D1657983607&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

SONORA, CALIF. (June 29, 2022) – Over the past few decades, the lands we rely on for clean water, recreation opportunities, habitat, natural resources, clean air and much more have increasingly been impacted by insect, disease and drought mortality, wildland fire, exacerbated by climate change. These impacts have altered ecosystem function and resiliency. While the challenges to reduce these impacts are great, through our research partners and collaborative network, we have enhanced our shared understanding of the type and scale of treatments necessary to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildland fire, insect, disease and drought mortality.

As such, we are very pleased to announce the second Record of Decision (“ROD-2”) titled “A Significant Step Toward Resiliency” of the Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape (SERAL) project on the Stanislaus National Forest was signed by Jason Kuiken this morning (June 29, 2022). This project, developed through wonderful collaboration with Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS), was designed to restore forest resilience and reduce the landscapes susceptibility to negative effects of natural disturbances.

“The SERAL project was developed through a collective, collaborative effort of numerous community members, collaborative partners, research experts, and Forest Service employees. SERAL came to fruition after many years of individual, smaller scale efforts. And through this collaborative effort we have been able to better understand and address a plethora of varied interests and concerns to leverage all of the knowledge, past experiences, new technologies, new planning tools, and new relationships into a project that is designed to affect real change on the landscape. The actions I am authorizing in this decision chart a new course to success. As is often said, the sum is worth more than the parts and this decision is proof of that philosophical standard,” said Jason Kuiken, Stanislaus National Forest – Forest Supervisor and SERAL’s Responsible Official.

“A healthy and resilient forest holds the key to wildlife conservation, providing world class recreation and attracting visitors to our shared public lands, which is critical to our local and regional economy. For our affected community, the work to achieve and maintain the project’s objectives will provide the raw material for local timber and biomass facilities for years to come. The actions implemented through this SERAL Decision will ensure that the places we work and play in are more able to withstand an uncertain future, and the project will be a model that forests across the western United States can adopt,” said Kuiken.

As part of the NEPA process, the FEIS and ROD were updated during the Administrative Review Process. The total, there is much to be proud of collectively for the thoughtful consideration, engagement, and attention that went into this effort.

To view the updated FEIS and the Decision signed today (“ROD-2”) visit the project website at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56500

Sonora, CA — California’s Sierra Nevada Conservancy approved spending $21-million for various forest resilience projects, with a big chunk of it coming to the Mother Lode region.

$3.5-million was awarded for phase one of the Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape (SERAL) project. It is taking place in eastern Tuolumne County near the communities of Mi-Wuk, Long Barn and Strawberry.  Read more at:  https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/2596991/millions-of-state-dollars-coming-for-local-forestry-projects.html?ct=t(RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN)

A potentially game-changing effort to prevent megafires is rolling out in the woods up past Sonora.

The federal government granted $55 million in April for prescribed burning, selective logging and other work in and near the Stanislaus National Forest.

It grew out of a consensus among local business and environmental groups that the trees and brush have become unnaturally dense.  Read more here:  https://eedition.modbee.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=6ccd3b70-71f9-4165-b28e-5d2893144482

Based on results of years of scientific research and planning, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service released “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis:  A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests” in January 2022. As outlined in the Implementation Plan, the goal of this process was to identify landscapes that (1)have projects that are at scale or can be built out to scale, (2) are outcome driven, (3) are collaboratively
developed with communities and ready for implementation, (4) allow for investment in underserved communities, (5) could leverage current partner investments, and (6) could maximize use of existing authorities. Read more here:  WCS-Initial-Landscape-Investments

Overgrown forests are one of the key contributing factors to the current wildfire crisis in the West. The new Forest Service strategy on Confronting the Wildfire Crisis outlines the agency’s plan for increasing fuels and forest health treatments to create healthier forests and reduce the risk to communities. Read more at: Science says Thinned Forests are Healthy

As an environmentalist, I am deeply frustrated by misinformation in the Feb. 15 Bee opinion piece by anti-logging activist Chad Hanson. The thrust of his claims was that a highly publicized new study by forest scientists intentionally omitted key information and that large Sierra Nevada wildfires supposedly kill few mature trees. He claimed the scientists who authored the study were funded by the U.S. Forest Service, and that the agency will benefit from the commercial logging promoted by the scientific study. Read more at: John Buckley Answers Chad Hanson 22-3

The big project is named Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape, or SERAL, and it’s been born from an ongoing partnership between the federal Forest Service, the collaborative Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions group, and Tuolumne County. Other partners include Sierra Pacific Industries, the Tuolumne River Trust, and the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center in Twain Harte. Read the full article at: Forest Service takes major step forward on historically massive Tuolumne County project 22-2