Phase 1 - Forest Fuel Reduction Program Narrative
Lake County Resources Initiative - Chewaucan Biophysical Monitoring Team
Drafted by Avery Strubel & Elisha Rucker
08/24/2023

In recent years, wildfires have negatively affected both public and private lands in Lake County. The increased risk of wildfire continues to threaten Lake County's forests ecosystems and agricultural practices and is a multifaceted issue which we feel requires scientific and creative responses to help resolve. Lake County Resources Initiative’s Forest Fuel Reduction Program (FFRP) will be dedicated to helping make informed decisions on what to do with unused fuels. The main priority of the FFRP is to lessen the possibility of another catastrophic wildfire through the reduction of surface fuel material on public and private lands. One of the ways that we will do this is by removing stacked piles of unused logs and brush called slash piles, that are scattered around our forests. Slash piles contain large amounts of fuel that are an ever present fire hazard, especially in the event of a wildfire.
To help provide unbiased data, the FFRP has developed a protocol to look at the various slash piles in our forests. This protocol looks at different aspects of each slash pile such as the amount of logs, quality of the wood, types of trees in the slash pile, and other helpful data that could be used to make informed decisions on what to do with these slash piles. This data would then be entered onto a geographic information systems database that would have public viewing access and sharing abilities. This data will be sent to the Forest Service, enhancing the agency's ability to make informed management decisions on surface fuel loads. Using this data, some of the management options include turning the slash piles into firewood, wood chips, and even custom cut lumber for the community. All of the data collected with the established monitoring and data protocol will be used to help the community in a positive way.
Currently, when the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management decides to remove slash piles, they burn them which is costly and serves no real benefit to the community. Burning slash piles takes a lot of time and money because a crew has to be present to make sure the burning doesn’t get out of hand, and if it does they must be able to put the fire out before it causes more harm. Burning slash also produces unnecessary carbon dioxide which gets released into the atmosphere. Burning slash has negative impacts on the environment and poses a significant risk to fire prone ecosystems which is why most of the time these slash piles are left to decompose. Slash piles take many decades to decompose and when dry, contribute to fuel loading on the forest floor. This is where the FFRP can help through providing data on slash pile conditions, value, and what the best removal strategies might be. There are many different positive uses for these slash piles that would help the community and can be studied and explored through the FFRP.
The data that is collected with the FFRP’s protocol will be used to help inform our partners on what treatment should be done. One positive strategy for removing slash is by permitting community members and third party contractors to harvest material. Permits allocated to a third party crew or community member will allow for the harvest of slash piles and turn these unused fuels into firewood and or other repurposed products. With the information collected with the protocol, we will provide a location of the slash piles that is safely accessible to the public and our partners. Once a permit has been issued, customers will be provided with the location and access to designated slash piles. This allows partnering agencies and industry to more easily monitor where harvesting activities are taking place, isolating the number of potential incidents across a large landscape. Wildlife habitats will become less impacted since trees aren’t being cut and instead material will be harvested out of slash piles that are already on the ground. Furthermore, this will lead to preserving our native species and natural forest habitat for the upcoming generations by reducing the spread of invasive species, preventing the creation of unwanted roads in sensitive areas, and reducing undesirable human impacts.
Removing slash piles will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being produced from burning slash, along with reducing the amount of net carbon dioxide produced. This is because firewood will be harvested out of slash piles instead of cutting more trees for the same purpose. Contributing to the reduction of carbon dioxide this will help provide firewood to community members in need who are unable to collect firewood on their own. After this firewood has been harvested from slash piles, the remaining brush and branches can be turned into wood chips that can then be sold back to the community. The wood chips can be used as mulch, ground covering, composting, natural pathways, and other decorative purposes, without increasing carbon dioxide levels.
Another option is to issue permits for the sale of high quality wood. These permits will be sold to small mills and other community members who are looking for high quality wood material. Some examples of a high quality product that could be found in these slash piles include White Pine, Sugar Pine, and other timber that is clear of knots and would make good millable boards. Data collected on these slash piles can be used to inform our industry partners on what types of wood are in these piles and what needs to be done to manage them. This can be achieved by issuing permits through the Forest Service for these community members to harvest from these slash piles. This high quality material can also be donated to the Lakeview High School woodshop. If we come across a slash pile that is not usable for the other purposes listed, we will discuss what the best method of management would be with our partners.
The main goal of the FFRP is to reduce fuel levels in the forests and this can be achieved through the management strategies that we intend to implement in this program. LCRI cares about how these management actions will affect forest health now and into the future. This Program is intended to be an extension of the Chewaucan Biophysical Monitoring Team (CBMT) because of its long successful track record of monitoring public and private lands. The CBMT will establish sites to look at the effects that slash piles have on the forest before and after treatment.