Left to right: Supervisor Adams, Supervisor Heubner, Miriam Dines, Supervisor Terry LeBlanc, and Supervisor Sharon Dryden during Ms. Dines' speech following the Board's presentation of a framed Resolution of Appreciation for her 31 years of service with Sierra County.

DOWNIEVILLE - During their August 2nd meeting here, the agenda faced by the Sierra County Board of Supervisors when the meeting began at 9 AM was short and devoid of any controversial items. Thus, the group was done with their work long before noon.

Arguably the most interesting portion of the session came early, when the Vice-Chair, Supervisor Sharon Dryden (who was running the meeting while Supervisor Paul Roen attended the meeting from afar) asked for Committee reports and Lee Adams spoke about how “Last week it seemed most of us worked for the Forest Service.”

Yes, as it happened, on Tuesday, July 26, Supervisors Adams, Roen, Heubner, and LeBlanc, along with Heather Foster, Sierra County Clerk-Recorder, and David Prentice, Sierra County Counsel, attended a “Quad County'' symposium hosted by the U.S. Forest Service in Susanville.

This meeting, hosted by the Lassen National Forest (with representatives present from the Modoc, Plumas, and Tahoe National Forests, as well), allowed the Forest Service’s national Wildfire Risk Reduction Infrastructure Team (WRRIT) to provide Supervisors and staff from Modoc, Lassen, Plumas, and Sierra counties with a presentation on the WRRIT’s assignment (to implement the agency’s 10-year strategy for confronting the current “Wildfire Crisis”) and principles (proactive communication, adaptive learning, anchoring their work in science). Accordingly, WRRIT understands the importance of providing sustained funding over multiple years and the need to look at biophysical and social issues together when assessing and minimizing risk to communities. WRRIT also wants to increase the USFS’s ability to build and sustain partnerships and work collaboratively with local groups.

Hence, the WRRIT team met on Wednesday, July 27th at the USFS facility in Downieville with Supervisors Adams and Roen plus key county staff (Tim Beals, Brandon Pangman, and Bryan Davey) for a day-long meeting. Then, on Thursday, July 28th, WRITT convened a morning meeting at the Tahoe National Forest headquarters in Nevada City to hear presentations by representatives of all the members of the North Yuba Forest Partnership. Specifically, from the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), both Melinda Booth, Executive Director of SYRCL, and Kat Perlman, their Forest Conservation Program Manager; Zach Knight, Chief Executive Officer of Blue Forest Conservation; Shelly Covert, Secretary, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribal Council; Ed Smith, Senior Regional Scientist and Fire Manager for The Nature Conservancy; Andy Fristensky, Branch Manager, Field Operations and Grants, for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy; Lindsey Netta, Project Manager for the Camptonville Community Partnership; Paul Roen, Chairman, Sierra County Board of Supervisors; Matt Millar, Sierra Nevada Program, Senior Manager for the National Forest Foundation, and Joanna Lessard, PhD and Project Manager for the Yuba Water Agency.

In Paul Roen’s words, being in these sessions was “like being the dog who caught the car.” But. as Tim Beals told the Board, the Supervisors need to file a summary of the commitments made by the Forest Service during these sessions. For example, will the agency really follow through with the idea they unveiled about allowing private housing development on federal property in order to facilitate permanent forest maintenance work with the North Yuba?

Rest assured, we'll be watching to see if actions match words.

Meanwhile, the Board approved a resolution supporting implementation of a fire fuel landscape treatment project at Greene Acres and NEPA planning for a Forest City fuel reduction project. The Supes also approved the purchase and installation of a new generator for the Courthouse.