Input sought on 3,800 acre forest thinning project in South Lake Tahoe

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) is seeking comments on a proposal to reduce excess vegetation on approximately 3,800 acres of National Forest lands on the south end of the Lake Tahoe Basin in order to reduce the risk of wildland fires and create healthier forests.

“Now more than ever, we recognize the need to increase our efforts to treat and remove excess and overgrown vegetation in order to protect communities and improve forest health,” said Jeff Marsolais, LTBMU Forest Supervisor. “We are excited to be moving forward with strategies that will increase the pace and scale of thinning projects to help create more resilient forests that are resistant to wildland fire, drought, bark beetles and disease.”

Treatments would include forest thinning using hand and mechanical methods, cable yarding and prescribed fire operations involving pile and understory burning. Tree planting may also occur in some areas to promote tree species or forest structure diversity. Treatments would take place in areas thinned within the last 25 years and in areas that have not been previously treated.

Hand thinning would take place on steeper slopes not accessible to mechanical equipment and generally steeper than 30 percent. Hand thinning is accomplished by hand crews, which remove trees and pile the excess material for burning at a later time.

Mechanical thinning operations would include cut-to-length (CTL) and whole tree removal. CTL thinning and whole tree removal can take place on slopes less than 30 percent. CTL thinning involves using a harvester to cut the tree down, remove the limbs and cut the tree into sections in the cutting area. Mechanical whole tree removal involves cutting the entire tree and moving it to the landing area to remove the limbs and cut it into sections. These types of mechanical operations generally require closure of the project area during operations due to the hazards posed by heavy equipment and falling trees.

Cable yarding would take place on steep slopes that are generally greater than 30 percent or in areas where soils are too sensitive for ground-based mechanical equipment, such as stream environment zones (SEZs). Cable yarding consists of a system that uses cables to transport materials from the cutting area to the landing.

Prescribed fire operations would include a combination of pile and understory burning. Pile burning requires the piles to dry out or “cure” for several years in order for the piles to burn effectively. During understory burning, fire is introduced on the ground and allowed to burn the layer of vegetation under the tree canopy.

In addition to possible short-term impacts to recreational areas, thinning projects change the appearance of our forests. Treated areas may look disturbed at first, but recover visually within a few years and provide for a healthier, more resilient forest over time.

Work could begin as early as spring 2018 and could take approximately eight years to complete. The Forest Service will send out updates to inform the public of possible impacts to trails or recreation areas.

The proposed action available at http://www.fs.usda.gov/goto/ltbmu/SoTahoeFuels.

The Forest Service will accept comments beginning Jan. 19, 2018. Comments are most helpful if received by Feb. 16.

For more information on the proposal and/or how to submit comments, contact Jason Pollard at 530-543-2891 or email jpollard@fs.fed.us.