Trinity County Fire Safe Council Hosts Regional Workshop
Who would have thought that over 50 people would converge on Weaverville to attend the first Northwestern California Regional Fire Safe Council Meeting? Well that’s just what happened when the Trinity County Fire Safe Council (TCFSC) opened the doors to the Weaverville Fire Hall on April 3rd to host this first-ever gathering of fire safe councils. Representatives from Fire Safe Councils (FSCs) big and small came from all over northern California to share their experiences in helping their communities be more fire safe. Three members from the California Fire Safe Council were on hand to learn about the challenges facing some of the State’s most rural fire safe councils in Del Norte, El Dorado, Humboldt, Mendocino, Modoc, Siskiyou, and Trinity counties. The countywide fire safe councils were joined by members of smaller, but no less effective, community-level FSCs from Avenue of the Giants, Diablo, Klamath River, Lake Head, Lower Mattole, Mt. Shasta Area, Orleans/Somes Bar, Old Shasta and Salmon River.
The idea for this regional workshop grew out of the Fire Wise workshop that was held in Fortuna last November. Local Fire Safe Council members Ingrid Landis (Post Mountain PUD), Scott Eberly (Trinity Resource Conservation & Development Council) and Kelly Sheen (Trinity County RCD) attended the Fortuna workshop. Fire Safe Councils in rural areas can feel isolated and it was realized that there is a need for regional networking among Fire Safe Council representatives to foster cross training, and collect information for the California FSC to strengthen its support for local councils.
The purpose of the meeting was to:
- support regionalized networking among Fire Safe Council representatives,
- foster cross-training in the variety of Fire Safe Councils functions, and
- collect information for the California FSC to strengthen support for county and local FSCs.
Fire Safe Councils vary significantly in how they are structured, how long they have been operating, how involved their communities and government may be, and the number and types of projects that they implement. They also have many similarities – a mission to educate residents on how to make their communities safer places to live, make their forests healthier, and to work cooperatively to implement high- priority fuels reduction projects.
Each fire safe council summarized its work, and highlighted its primary challenges. Many issues were raised during the two days including permitting issues, getting community involvement, funding, project planning and prioritization, workforce, agency support, landowner agreements, treatment prescriptions, monitoring, and maintenance of projects once they have been completed.
The RCD and USFS led participants on a tour Sunday afternoon that featured several fuels reduction projects that have been high priorities of the Trinity County Fire Safe Council to protect the community of Weaverville. Stops included the Conservation District’s Oregon Street roadside shaded fuel breaks and defensible space project, the Oregon Mountain fire, and a project along a Forest Service road that treated a plantation with a machine called a masticator.
This workshop was a good start at building partnerships among state, county, and local fire safe councils. The group identified opportunities to work together, support needs from the California Fire Safe Council, a list of effective communication and networking strategies, and the need to work together to affect public policy regarding fire safe issues.
The generous funding from the California Fire Safe Council, Collaborative Learning Circle, and the SiskiyouFSC sponsored this meeting. Barracks were provided by the US Forest Service and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Meeting space was graciously provided by the Weaverville Fire Department.
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