Supervisors approve new road agreement between public works and Plumas National Forest

Plumas County Supervisors approved an agreement with Plumas National Forest for what’s commonly known as forest roads. That approval came Tuesday, Sept. 17.

Plumas County Public Works Director Bob Perreault was before supervisors explaining the process.

Forest roads refer to those that are also part of the Plumas County Road System, but are under the jurisdiction of the federal government through the USDA, according to Perreault. This includes the need to construct, improve and/or maintain certain forest roads.

The existing cooperative forest road agreement with PNF was dated Oct. 17, 1972. It was time to update that agreement, according to Perreault. “The revised agreement sets forth, among other provisions, the specific terms of cooperation, and sets forth an annual meeting in which the terms of agreement are reviewed,” Perreault said.

The project agreement with PNF and eventually with Lassen National Forest, involves identification of roads or road segments to be improved or constructed, plans and specifications for the project, a schedule of construction or improvement and who will perform the work, cost estimates and how that cost is assigned.

Perreault said that public works used fire settlement funds for needed work on the Seneca and Diamond Mountain roads.

PNF has approved its side of the forest roads agreement. With supervisors’ approval, it was time to repeat a similar process with the LNF for forest roads within Plumas County.