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Fire Safe Council Update: Diamond Mountain Restoration Well Underway

Thinning operations on Diamond Mountain, funded by the Lassen Fire Safe Council -photo provided

The start of the Diamond Mountain Initiative’s watershed restoration treatments were delayed due the heavy winter snowpack but they are now well underway according to details released by the Lassen County Fire Safe Council this week. LCFSC is currently funding 3 simultaneous treatment operations in the upper reaches of the Diamond Mountain watershed, with the assistance of several grantors.

Biomass thinning and mastication treatments are thinning the forest on a landscape scale with California Prop 1 Funds provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.

Tubit Enterprises, Inc. of Burney is the biomass thinning contractor. Evans Right of Way, of Igo, California is the masticating thinning contractor. These forest thinning operations will help make the forest more resilient, less susceptible to bug kills and they will improve overall watershed function.

The third treatment operation is being conducted along the Diamond Mountain Motorway with funds provided by the CALFIRE SRA Grant program. The primary focus of these treatments is to provide safer access for suppression resources that often need to use the road to fight wildfires, both on private and the adjacent National Forest and BLM managed lands. This work will also improve forest health on the properties where these hand thinning treatments are implemented. Work will continue on all these projects until the onset of winter/wet season conditions.

LCFSC is also continuing its support of the NEPA Clearance process for the companion Lassen National Forest, Diamond Mountain Watershed Restoration Project with the aid SNC funding. Good public input was received by LNF in early summer and there is hope that a decision can be reached by December that will allow for the implementation of the project.

All of these efforts a being further assisted by a capacity grant made to LCFSC/DMI from the National Forest Foundation. The National Forest Foundation promotes the enhancement and public enjoyment of the 193-million-acre National Forest System. By directly engaging Americans and leveraging private and public funding, the NFF improves forest health and Americans’ outdoor experiences.

The NFF’s programs inform millions of Americans about the importance of these treasured landscapes. Each year, the NFF restores fish and wildlife habitat, plants trees in areas affected by fires, insects and disease, improves recreational opportunities, and enables communities to steward their National Forests and Grasslands.

The DMI partnership consists of representatives from LCFSC (the project lead), Lassen County, the Lassen and Plumas National Forests, BLM, CAL FIRE, Honey Lake Valley RCD, W.M. Beaty and Associates, Susan River Fire Protection District, HL, Power and several private landowners. The Lassen County Board of Supervisors has made the DMI one of its highest priorities.

For more information on the project contact: Lassen County Fire Safe Council at 530-251-5560.

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