North Yuba Forest Partnership Renews Its Restoration Agreement

NORTH YUBA WATERSHED — Nine organizations working to reduce wildfire risk across 275,000 acres of the North Yuba River watershed have renewed the memorandum of understanding that binds them together, reaffirming a commitment first made in 2019. Yuba Water Agency announced the renewal on Monday, August 17, on behalf of the North Yuba Forest Partnership. Most of the ground the agreement covers lies in Sierra County.

The memorandum records the partners’ continued commitment to cooperate, communicate, and work together to promote healthier, more resilient forests within the watershed, according to the announcement. “Strong partnerships are the foundation of lasting forest resilience,” said Tahoe National Forest Deputy Forest Supervisor Amber Waters. “We thank all partners for the continued commitment in restoring the North Yuba, creating healthier forests and protecting communities.”

The watershed stretches from New Bullards Bar Reservoir east to the Sierra Crest along Highway 49. Of the 275,000-acre project area, approximately 210,000 acres are National Forest System lands within Sierra County, according to the partnership, with the westernmost portions reaching into Yuba County. Camptonville, Downieville, and Sierra City all sit inside the boundary.

Sierra County was a founding signatory. Supervisors authorized the chairman to sign the original memorandum on October 1, 2019, and the partnership announced the agreement publicly the following month, describing forest restoration at an unprecedented scale. The other partners are the Tahoe National Forest, The Nature Conservancy, the South Yuba River Citizens League, the Camptonville Community Partnership, the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, the National Forest Foundation, Blue Forest, and Yuba Water Agency.

The partners have since secured $150 million and carried out treatments across more than 30,700 acres, using fuels reduction, forest density thinning, and prescribed fire. Another 42,597 acres have been prepared and are ready for treatment in coming field seasons. Work has been prioritized near the communities most exposed to wildfire, including Camptonville and Downieville.

The largest project now underway near Downieville covers about 3,350 acres east of town. Hand falling was scheduled to begin in August. A separate fuel break of roughly 460 acres is being cut along the ridgelines north of town, with heavy equipment moving in and out along Lavezzola and Saddleback Roads.

Crews completed 279 acres of the fuel break beginning in October 2025, finishing in just under three months, and the remaining 178 acres are planned for completion during the current field season. The work includes tethered mastication on slopes steeper than 50 percent, which the National Forest Foundation has described as likely the first operation of its kind in California. Amber Nelson, the acting district ranger for the Tahoe National Forest’s Yuba River Ranger District, told the Sierra County Board of Supervisors in June that a steep slope amendment had been approved, allowing future projects to use tethered logging on slopes as steep as 90 percent.

Other treatments scheduled for the season include about 1,300 acres northwest of Downieville, roughly six miles north of Goodyears Bar; about 1,373 acres northeast of Alleghany and adjacent to Forest City; about 1,200 acres just south of Bassetts; and 263 acres of meadow and aspen restoration between Packer Lake Road and Gold Lake Road. A closure order covers portions of the Truckee Ditch, Sandusky, and Mexican Mine trails within the Alleghany-area project. The partnership has asked the public to expect log trucks and heavy equipment on designated haul routes seven days a week.

The Forest Service authorizes the treatments in stages rather than all at once, an approach meant to let completed surveys and current field conditions inform each decision. A record of decision issued in July 2023 cleared approximately 32,000 acres for treatment, and a second, signed in September 2025, cleared about 29,000 acres near Camptonville and Bullards Bar. Planning began in 2018, and the partners expect implementation to continue for 15 to 20 years.

Upcoming treatments will continue to target community protection through roadside fuel reduction, fuel break creation, and restoration work in priority locations in the headwaters, according to the partnership. Information about active projects is posted at yubaforest.org.