Community Forestry

In the Sierra Nevada the threat of wildfire harming communities is growing as the population increases in the mountains and foothills. By using the Firewise Communities / USA program, using a Conservation Community Wildfire Protection Planning model, and continuing our involvement in several Fire Safe Councils we are working to increase the overall protection and involvement of Sierra Nevada communities.

Forests in the United States contain a significant amount of small-diameter and underutilized material. Not only do these overstocked stands increase the risk of insect, disease, fire, and drought damage, but they are costly to manage. Finding economical and marketable uses for this material would alleviate these problems while providing opportunities for local communities to benefit and helping to offset forest management costs.

The goal of smoke management is to protect public health by reducing smoke impacts in populated areas while protecting the vitality of California’s forests, other wildlands, and farmland. The California Air Resources Board has adopted guidelines that provide for enhanced smoke management planning and improved communication in conducting agricultural and prescribed burning. The guidelines continue to allow burning as a resource management tool, while minimizing smoke impacts on the public.

The West has, and continues to, evolve. The era of economic dependency on resource extraction has long since passed. The logging industry has been a fraction of the economy of the Sierra’s rural counties for decades. Even in the counties where significant logging industry infrastructure remains and where the economies are the least diversified, timber employment is a bit player.