In the News

Foresters, Forest Historians Debate Over Tahoe Forest Thinning
date posted: December 22 2005

Lake Tahoe Report #100
Jan. 14, 2005
By John Cobourn and Heather Segale

In a recent interview on KOLO-TV’s “Lake Tahoe Report,” Thomas Bonnicksen, forest historian, stated that at Lake Tahoe, “There are 200,000 acres of forest up there that are ready to burn.” Dr. Bonnicksen says that the USDA Forest Service is going too slow with its forest thinning projects, and he recommends that Tahoe’s federal lands be opened up to selective logging. He contends that foresters can select a mix of small and medium-to-large trees that will have commercial value at the mill. Bonnicksen says logging companies can assist in returning our forests to a “healthy, fire-resistant” state.

Bonnicksen points out that before the Tahoe Basin was logged in the late 19th century, Sierra Nevada forests had about 60 trees per acre. “Now we have 460 of all sizes. The forest can’t support that.” He thinks that in order to get back to a “natural” condition, we must cut trees creatively, and not just the little trees with no value.

Rex Norman, of the USDA Forest Service’s Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, says Bonnicksen’s description of the overstocking of many of Tahoe’s forests is correct, but that statements such as “the whole 200,000 acres of the basin being ready to burn,” are inaccurate.

Norman says that of the 165,000 acres of National Forest land in the Tahoe Basin, about 25 percent or 40,000 acres are alpine and subalpine rocky places, with little or no forest to burn. Another 40,000 are high-elevation forests, including Wilderness Area lands, forest stands not requiring immediate treatment, and designated roadless areas. Because these 80,000 acres do not require fuel-reduction treatments or can’t be treated, that leaves approximately 85,000 acres that potentially can be effectively treated.

Since 1987, treatments have occurred on National Forest lands throughout the basin. Of the 85,000 acres needing treatment, over 35,000 acres already have been treated to reduce catastrophic wildfire risks. Roughly 50,000 acres remain to be treated. Some of these were treated in the 1980s, but require additional work now. Of these 50,000 acres, because of steep slopes, 29,000 acres will need to be treated by hand crews, and about 21,000 will be treated mechanically. Nearly all treatable acres lie within the Wildland Urban Interface and will receive intensive treatments, including hand or mechanical thinning, followed by prescribed fire, chipping work or biomass removal.

The Forest Service has concentrated most of its fuels-reduction work around communities at risk. While overall forest ecosystem restoration is the long-range goal, Norman says fire protection for communities is the essential starting place. Though the Forest Service does not have jurisdiction in urban or residential communities, Forest Service staff are partnering with the fire protection districts and fire safe councils, to assist in fuels reduction in these areas.

Norman also points out that rapid thinning of large tracts of land is hindered by the high percentage of basin lands that are too steep to access. Even on more gradually sloping land, the large-scale removal of commercial timber could require many miles of new roads. Forests roads that have been decommissioned in recent years would, of necessity, have to be re-commissioned for economical access. Hydrologists generally agree that road-building and the long-term disturbance caused by roads create the most severe detrimental impacts to water quality of any forestland use.

Fuels-reduction and forest-health projects are conducted within established laws, policies and regulations of the Tahoe Basin. Required environmental reviews are stringent, and protections for soils and water quality must meet the highest standards. Additionally, the urban density and California air quality regulations can greatly limit prescribed fire use.

Wildfire risks to communities, resources, livelihoods, sensitive watersheds and water quality are very real. Even a wildfire of moderate or modest size for nearby forests would have grave consequences in the confined and steeply sloped Tahoe Basin. The effort to reduce wildfire risks and restore forest health will require significant funding, personnel, time and effort. To be most successful, it will also require an aware and informed public.

Bonnicksen will be speaking before the Governing Board of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) on Jan. 26. For more information, call the TRPA, (775) 588-4547, ext. 237.