el dorado forest

Woodcutting permits on the Eldorado National Forest have been changed to allow larger standing dead conifer trees to be cut for firewood. A minimum of tTwo cords of wood can be cut for $15 per cord.

"This change in our woodcutting permits will encourage removal of potentially dangerous roadside hazard trees," said forest supervisor Laurence Crabtree. "Fire and bark beetles have left a lot of dead trees which could fall across forest roads, particularly the less traveled roads in the back country."

The El Dorado Chapter of the California Native Plant Society presents Before and After the Flames: Fire, Forest and Climate Change in the Sierra Nevada, a talk by Dr. Hugh D. Safford, Senior Vegetation Ecologist for the US Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region (including California, Hawaii and Pacific Islands) and Dr. Becky Estes, ecologist with the the US Forest Service, Tuesday, January 27th, 7pm at the Planning Commission Meeting Room, Building C of the County Office Buildings, 2850 Fairlane Court in Placerville. The presentation is free and open to the public.

A compromise agreement reached by conservation groups, off-roaders and three rural counties settles litigation going back to the 1990’s by resolving the status of contentious trails in Northern California’s Eldorado National Forest, according to documents posted today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Under the agreement, some trails and dirt roads would reopen, others would remain closed and still others would begin restoration of past damage.