Community Protection (Protect) Projects
Community Protection (Protect) Projects
The Plumas National Forest is asking for public input on a plan to reduce risk of wildfire impacts to communities and critical infrastructure, improve ingress and egress to communities, and reduce the potential for extreme fire behavior in the wildland urban interface (WUI), through an all-lands approach to fire and fuels management.
The Plumas National Forest has experienced multiple years of catastrophic wildfire, burning 65 percent of the National Forest. Communities and forests have been seriously impacted by wildfire. There is a need to protect communities from future wildfires. This is the critical priority work for our Forest. Considering the past two fire seasons and the enormous impact, we need to take action to reduce fire risk to communities and critical infrastructure. Our objective is to have signed decisions for all areas that allow a meaningful level of threat reduction in time for implementation next season.
The Protect Projects are concentrated on a number of community zones across the Forest that are moderate-, high-, or very high-risk wildfire hazard potential. Current working titles for these community zones at risk are Eastside Communities, Greater American Valley, Greater Mohawk Valley, and West Slope Communities. Several or all of these community specific projects are being further developed including disclosure of issues and alternative development, an effects analysis for each alternative studied in detail, and a preferred alternative by project partners. In order to address the increased risk to communities posed by recent and projected extreme fire behavior, a Forest Plan Amendment may be included as part of this project.
A summary of the proposed action is available online at:
https://www.fs.fed.us/sopa/forest-level.php?110511
Specific, solution-oriented comments that focus on the proposed actions or identify issues with the proposal would be most useful in the planning efforts. Please indicate the name “Protect Project” on the subject line of your comments. If you are commenting on a specific community, please add the community’s name. Although written or verbal comments are welcome at any time, they will be most helpful if submitted in writing before June 8, 2022, to:
Kristin Winford, Project Manager
Plumas National Forest, 159 Lawrence Street, Quincy, CA
[email protected]
If you have any questions or wish to discuss the proposed project in more detail, please contact Kristin Winford at 530-927-9853.