Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) teamed with the Trinity County Resource Conservation District (TCRCD) to host a meeting of landowners in Lewiston October 18. The purpose was to discuss options for limiting erosion and reducing sediment delivery from the area's fire damaged watershed. Landowners in attendance expressed interest in focusing on certain areas more than others, with a desire for continuing work to develop a long term plan.

So far, team representatives have visited about 30 properties at landowners' request to help identify problem areas. Some issues being examined include erosion caused by lack of vegetation or due to improper construction of roads and grading practices; fire hazards; stormwater diversion and erosion at stream crossings or undersized culverts; and accumulated sediment.

The team is studying costs and feasibility of creating sediment basins to capture and store eroded soil. Sierra Pacific Industries, with partial funding from the Trinity River Restoration Program, constructed debris dams and planted 10,000 trees to help control erosion on its lands in the burned area. TCRCD purchased culvert for use by landowners to install in trenches, through an in-kind match from landowners. The District is also developing a fuels reduction program intended to limit impacts of future wildfires by managing vegetation. The District will be doing some planting on private and public lands, plus manual work on existing vegetation to promote healthy plants and limit regrowth. The long term purpose is to decrease erosion through selective improvement of area vegetation.