Fire Safe Efforts Continue
The Trinity County Fire Safe Council always has held that community wildfire protection plans are only as good as the implementation that is carried out – and it is best when we are updating our plans and implementing projects at the same time. That is the case this year. Crews from the Watershed Research & Training Center, RCD and Weaverville Volunteer Fire Department have been working throughout the county on hazardous fuels reduction projects and the Fire Safe Council has begun to update the Trinity County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP).
Here in Trinity County we are known for our ability to bring different sources of money together to get good work done, and this year has been no different. The SMART Business Center was instrumental in helping develop field crews this summer, using Stimulus funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Financial assistance has also come from the California Fire Safe Council’s Grants Clearinghouse, which channels funding from the USFS and BLM to projects to reduce hazardous fuels on private lands and, as always, the in-kind contributions of “sweat equity” from landowners. The federal land management agencies have been doing their part, too. Just drive up Rainier Road south of Trinity Center or near Goose Ranch Road and you will see the results of their labors.
Trinity County Fire Safe Council has just started working on the update of the CWPP, which is 10 years old. A lot has happened since then. Many of the projects that were identified in the original plan have been completed, but we have not been immune to wildfire as hundreds of thousands of acres have burned. A series of community meetings will be hosted by volunteer fire departments this winter and spring to give everyone throughout the county a chance to weigh in on the work that has been done and to share their ideas for the next 5 years. Some communities have already gotten a jump on the planning. Hyampom, under the leadership of their local fire safe council, have completed a draft plan for the Hyampom Valley. Trinity Center and Coffee Creek have been working for the past year on an update, with the help of the Natural Resources Conservation Service and TCRCD (with funding from the California Department of Conservation). The Willow Creek Fire Safe Council has been working closely with the Lower Trinity Management Unit of Six Rivers National Forest on plans that expand the Down River Fire Management Plan for Slayer and Hawkins Bar.
The bottom line is that the safety of each and every property in Trinity County depends on everyone working together. The Trinity County Fire Safe Council encourages you to get involved at whatever level you can.
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