Newsletter

Update from the ‘Inimim Forest

May 20, 2021 by Cameron Musser

Dear Friends of the Yuba Watershed Institute (YWI),

We hope that this message finds you and your families well and looking to the future with optimism. The turning of the year did not resolve the challenges of the last, but the past five months have demonstrated our community’s resilience in the face of unprecedented hardships. While we’re helping each other up from the hardships and losses of the pandemic, we’re also coming together to prepare for another fierce fire season. The YWI is pleased to share with you how we have increased the resilience of our local forests and created safer evacuation routes throughout Nevada County’s San Jan Ridge through our recent work on the ‘Inimim Forest Restoration Project.

*Fuels reduction in shaded fuel break along Lake City Road at the Spring Creek parcel of the ‘Inimim Forest*

For Phase 1 of the project (funded by CAL FIRE and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy), the YWI hired GTS Forestry, Inc. (GTS) to reduce understory fuels on BLM lands between 100 to 200 feet from the road edge along Jackass Flats, Sages, Salmon Mine, Tyler Foote Crossing, and Old Mill Roads, as well as from 0 to 200 feet on Lake City Road. First, hand crews cut vegetation according to CAL FIRE’s shaded fuel break prescription. This prescription is intended to use the shade of closed tree canopy to suppress the regrowth of shrubs and small trees in strategic, high risk areas, like roadways. GTS either piled the material into burn piles or chipped it. In total, GTS completed 13.6 acres of hand thinning and piling, 40.7 acres of hand thinning and tracked chipping, and 11.1 acres of hand thinning and hauling. Hauled chips were taken to project neighbors and Ananda Village.

To put the finishing touches on the shaded fuel break, Sierra Nevada Forestry Service (SNFS) and the Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps were hired to pull highly flammable and invasive Scotch broom. During the week of April 12^th, SNFS pulled young broom plants from the first 100 feet along roadways on the Sages, Salmon Mine, Badger Diggins, and Grizzly Hill parcels. The plants were young because this was the second treatment of these areas, as broom removal is an ongoing process. In the second week of May, the Conservation Corps tackled some “old-growth Scotch broom” as the first treatment of the second 100 feet of the fuel break at the Sages parcel. Some of the individual plants were about 12 feet tall!

*The Sacramento Regional Conservation Corps planning their attack on a stubborn patch of Scotch Broom at the Sages parcel of the ‘Inimim Forest*

In addition to creating safer evacuation routes, the YWI has also been working to restore the larger ‘Inimim Forest landscape to a more fire-safe state. At the start of the new year, Red Mtn Resource LLC (RMR) masticated 30.8 acres of a mostly manzanita understory at the Bear Tree parcel of the ‘Inimim Forest. This Phase 1 work supported the YWI’s objective to protect the larger pines and diverse forest at the center of the Bear Tree parcel from risks of drought and fire. Around this time, local contractor John Jaynes also masticated 1.9 acres of burn piles within a 150-foot buffer alongside Lake City Road at the Shields Camp parcel. This treatment ensured that burn piles created in 2018 alongside Lake City Road would be eliminated prior to the 2021 fire season.

*The BLM burning piles at the Shields Camp parcel*

During a brief window this spring, when the weather was suitable, the BLM was able to burn about 1.1 acres of piles south of Lake City Road at the Shields Camp parcel. The BLM is extremely limited in burn boss staffing at this time, and consequently we at the YWI are doing what we can to prevent creating more burn piles.

*Red Mtn Resource crew broadcast chipping on the Big Parcel*

Phase 2 of the ‘Inimim Forest Restoration Project (funded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy) consists of 314 acres of understory fuels reduction treatments in more remote, forested tributaries of the South Yuba River. The YWI implemented 155 acres of Phase 2 on the Big Parcel of the ‘Inimim Forest this past winter/spring. RMR was also hired for this project due to their creative proposal and their goal to create as few burn piles on the landscape as possible. Only 16.6 acres were hand thinned and piled, out of the initially-proposed 61.5 acres. Rather than solely piling, RMR hauled materials to skid trails and roads to be chipped. Ultimately, RMR hand thinned and chipped 62.6 acres. Another 8.3 acres were hand thinned, but will be chipped next season because of active bird nests found in the area. The YWI originally identified 82 acres as “operator’s choice” to allow for the contractors to use either tracked chipping or mastication as necessary, since mastication is difficult in highly dense stands of trees. Of these 82 acres, 55.4 were masticated. Because we are required to set aside a 1/4-acre of no treatment for every 10 acres of treatment, 8 acres of desirable wildlife habitat identified by the YWI and 4 acres of buffers around active bird nests were left untreated. This portion of Phase 2 work was completed on April 21^st of this year.

*Red Mtn Resource crew members hauling trees to Kadakesha Road to be chipped with a tow-behind chipper.*

As we head into the summer months, the YWI will begin planning efforts for the Little Deer Creek and Round Mountain Landscape Resilience Projects (also funded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy). Later this summer, project layout of the remaining 159 acres in Phase 2 of the ‘Inimim Forest project will begin. Depending on social distancing regulations and smoke conditions, the YWI will also resume holding volunteer days and educational events this summer.

Thank you for your continued support of and interest in the work of the Yuba Watershed Institute. Stay well and safe this summer. And don’t forget to get out and enjoy your public lands!

The Inimim Forest Restoration Project is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.

Building resiliency in our forest-dwelling communities

December 22, 2020 by Cynthia King

Dear friends and supporters of the Yuba Watershed Institute (YWI),

We hope this message finds you and your family safe and well. This year has brought one disturbance after the next, between the pandemic, ongoing economic shutdowns, widespread social unrest, and another record-breaking fire season, including the Jones Fire, which deeply affected members of our community and could have been much, much worse.

In the face of these challenges, the YWI is doubling-down on building resiliency in our forest-dwelling communities. In order to increase and accelerate our impact, we’re building new partnerships, expanding the scope of our work, and implementing our ‘Inimim Forest Restoration Plan.

For the past few years we have been laying the groundwork to restore the health of the ‘Inimim Forest, comprised of multiple Bureau of Land Management (BLM) parcels on the San Juan Ridge. This year with the help of our contractors we completed the following treatments as part of the ‘Inimim Forest Restoration Plan:

Implemented a 200-feet wide shaded fuel break on 55 acres along key roads necessary for ingress and egress in the case of wildfire;
Felled 15 acres of hazard trees at risk of falling on roads;
Hand cut and piled understory fuels on 4 acres to improve forest health;
Covered 87 acres of piles to be burned this spring.

*Local logger John Jaynes removes hazard trees at the Shields Camp parcel in February 2020 as part of the ‘Inimim Forest Restoration Project*.

As a result of our successful history of collaboration with the BLM, this year we received three new Sierra Nevada Conservancy grants to:

Implement 314 acres of additional forest health treatments on the ‘Inimim Forest; and
Develop plans to improve forest health on additional BLM parcels and neighboring lands under conservation easement, including 260 acres in the Little Deer Creek watershed near Gracie and Banner Lava Cap Roads and 1,230 acres in the Round Mountain area between Purdon and North Bloomfield Roads.

We are partnering with the Bear Yuba Land Trust, Sierra Streams Institute, and Firewise Communities on these new planning projects. We are also participating in the new Yuba Forest Network to increase cooperation and coordination across the watershed. We’ll be hosting a prescribed fire training workshop this spring and we’ve been working with Sierra Forest Legacy and others to build capacity to reintroduce beneficial fire into our local landscapes. These partnerships enable us to build on, share, and expand our expertise and help us to advance ecological forestry in our region. The YWI was founded 30 years ago to facilitate collaborative forest stewardship and this work is more important now than ever.

We need your help to expand our capacity to meet the tremendous needs and opportunities of this time. There is so much work to do to restore our forests and our collaborative approach can help us to achieve collectively what no one individual or organization can do alone.

Please consider supporting this important work by starting or renewing your YWI membership today!

Join at www.yubawatershedinstitute.org/membership/.

Your generous support will also help us provide other programs the community has grown to love, including:

The annual Yuba Watershed Fungus Foray and Wild Mushroom Exposition;
Our publication Tree Rings: The Journal of the Yuba Watershed Institute, where we bring you essays, artwork, and poetry on current watershed-related themes; and
Unique educational field programs, volunteer events, and evening and weekend workshops.

We are grateful for your past support and hope that you will be inspired to help the YWI by contributing at an increased level. Thank you for your dedication to preserving the biodiversity of the Yuba River watershed and beyond!

Sincerely,

Chris Friedel

Executive Director