Markleevillage Fuels Reduction Community Meetingat Alpine Biomass Committee Meeting

April 4, 2017, Turtle Rock Park

Gavin Feiger (AWG):Introduced himself, AWG, the current fuels grant, and structure of the discussion to follow

In 2015 AWG and the County had a grant to clear fuel along the County right away- out of a forum after that grant- a group applied for the Markleevillage Fuels Reduction

o Part of this project is this community meetingo AWG is a partner- we are doing outreach- we have common interests with all group that may

be interested in fuels reduction- all of our watersheds are forestedo Hopefully this meeting leads to a bigger discussion- AWG would hope to be involved with

anything that deals with riparian zones, meadows, aspens… other areas are likely more relevant for other groups

Hope to have good reference materials by the end of this meeting Overview of the project: on FS land- covered by NEPA. Showed Markleevillage project map

Danna (SNC):Wants to provide update and give a big picture perspective

Last month report was release- sobering news- more than 110 million dead trees in 3 years drought, beetles, and wildfire are natural, but what is happening now is not normal

Benefits in peril carbon capture, water supply, public health, wildlife habitat (60% of states habitat is in Sierra), historic and cultural resources, sustainable rural economies

o Emphasized Sierra is both CA and NV Watershed Improvement Program (WIP) focus areas- 1. Increase investment in watershed restoration

2. Address Policy ad Process Constraints 3. Develop additional infrastructure to utilize biomass Large Level Landscape Project are being looked at- collaboration (Tahoe Central, French Meadow,

Tuolumne County Resiliency Project)- collaboration SNC is revising grant guidelines for prop 1- next Friday SNC is hosting a webinar at 10-12 (14 th)

o One involves meadow restoration work in conjunction with other projects State legislation

o Parks bond (AB18 SB5)- AB18 calls for allocations for conservancies, healthy forests, SB5 doesn’t have allocations June 2018 ballot

o AB50- how public lands conveyance is approved at state levelo AB907- forms and office of outdoor recreation in state of CAo AB1617- funding dept. of fish and wildlife

How can Alpine County improve and enhance recreational opportunity? Can feed into biomass and fuels reduction projects

SNC had Outdoor recreation mandate in its strategic plan

Dana gave shout out to Sarah Green for being instrumental in starting this whole effort in 2012- and everyone else to being stewards and caringAcknowledges chair of SNC is from Alpine County

Norma Santiago (Catalytic Connections):

Commented that there is a new program/collaborative effort starting in Tahoe that can help with recreational infrastructure in the Tahoe area.

Irene Davidson (USFS): Project spans 1200 acres under NEPA Handwork, pile burning, mastication units have been flagged, contractors are ready to go- would

like to get on the ground as soon as possible USFS put in for additional treatments under GGRF SNC package - weren’t chosen Friday is deadline for GGRF pre application grants Don’t be afraid to put in for small grants – might be smaller amounts of money left after all the large

grants are awarded

Brian Peters (Alpine County): Currently some crew needs training from CCC and have been clearing areas behind county buildings

in Woodfords for no charge Around 695,000 piles to burn in the Tahoe basin County has to CEQA Crews want to be done in 6 weeks The roadside fuels grant closed out in January- 41miles of roadside area were cleared Biomass collection starts on April 22 all outside funding had been exhausted (will look into annual

budget to see how we can fund this) Ordinance involving fuels reduction on vacant lands…? Reconsidering this ordinance- will come

back to the board eventually- how can we facilitate fuels reduction as well as defensible space on vacant lands

Tim Roide (BLM): Right now BLM is in maintenance mode, and doing some few reentries

o Some insect and disease work (drought… bugs…), Kurtz Lakeo Stall period- this summer going to plan where to go next

18,000 acres of BLM land in Alpine- Bagley area (good healthy system)- very limited ground that is treatable area for BLM

o willing to work with ABC to look for priority areaso wants to shortcut NEPA system- there is a cliff notes version that is a potential because of the

original assessment is 2008- might not be possible

Doug Ferro (CalFire): Discusses the maps about high-severity areas- Weather, topography, fuels all taken into account

o Insurance companies got ahold of this data… Once high hazard areas are identified will decide on course of action- developments? Treatment? Get

the data to agencies Planned CalFire work on Diamond Valley and Crystal Springs coming up this summer (10 days this

summer are allotted to Alpine County)

Kris Hartnett (AFSC): Supervises area around Markleevillage Cleared pleasant valley to pleasant valley rd Cleared 10 feet from road on both sides on lower Manzanita with Washoe crew Washoe crew helped with large break

Coordinating with property owners on immigrant trail- Washoe crew cleared lots Title 3- great success, but that funding source is getting smaller

Irvin Jim (Washoe): Chips crew working on area by DVS June 1st starts in basin

Interactive Exercise:Dot voting for highest priority for fuels reduction. Initial review shows focus on Woodfords. See photo below.