QUINCY — With wildfires both major and minor devastating entire communities in recent years, tensions between organizations and agencies have increased.
Last week local groups announced a lawsuit aimed at the United States Forest Service claiming that the agency’s project in Plumas County is increasing wildfire vulnerability among other accusations.
The release refers to a “$650 million logging project” that would allegedly log and spread herbicide on about 133,000 acres of old-growth forest while not preparing an Environmental Impact Statement. The groups that issued the release are Feather River Action, the John Muir Project and the Plumas Forest Project.
However, the Forest Service’s numbers vary dramatically from the claims made by those filing the suit.
Plumas National Forest Public Information Officer Tamara Schmidt said that while the service cannot comment on the litigation itself, the project referred to is likely the Spirit R-Z Resource Service project. The project’s numbers don’t quite line up with the claims made in the suit.
Schmidt said Plumas National Forest was one of 21 areas federally designated in a round of funding to conduct projects related to wildfire safety. This included control burns as well as other fuel reduction projects. The forest received just shy of $274 million for these projects and of that sum, about $85.6 million will be going to Spirit R-Z, which is about a 70,000 acre project.
A map showing the area covered under the emergency authorization where projects will eventually take place to treat fire fuels in the Plumas National Forest in Plumas County and Butte County, California. (Plumas National Forest/Contributed)
The project was announced in September 2023 and the associated press release states that the project was made possible via an emergency authority.
“It’s about community protection,” Schmidt said. “Look at all these fires we have had. The Camp Fire, the North Complex fires, the Dixie Fire, but we have so many other fires that have occurred in this forest. We have communities where even if they see a little smoke it’s stressful. We need to address fuel issues and improve community safety.”
The $650 million figure derives from an environmental assessment document from the U.S. Forest Service where it breaks down long-term options for conducting these projects. In the document, a chart shows three different alternatives, each with a different estimated price tag.
Ecologist Chad Hanson with the John Muir Project cited the first alternative, which is estimated at $673,046,950, as the one selected by the service.
“To be clear, for the 70,000 acre project in no scenario could the word small be used,” Hanson said. “By itself, it would be one of the largest projects in the history of the Plumas National Forest.”
In terms of the grander scope, things become a bit more complicated. In total, the emergency authorization covers about 217,721 acres, but Schmidt said this is a broad outline and that not all of that area will see treatment. As for the selected alternative, Schmidt said that is much further out and has yet to be solidified, adding that only the 70,000 acre project is locked in and the Plumas County Board of Supervisors has yet to determine which alternative it wants for future projects. Outside of Spirit, the actual cost is still up in the air.
“That’s just an estimate, that’s not what we have,” Schmidt said. “It’s just estimated costs for each alternative.”
Schmidt said contracts have yet to be awarded for any future projects and the long-term costs are still unknown but for now, only about $274 million is available and of that, $85.6 million will go toward the Spirit R-Z project.
The joint press release announcing the lawsuit also claims the project puts communities at increased risk.
Adding to the joint statement, Hanson said projects such as the ones overseen by the Forest Service did not properly mitigate recent fires.
“For me, this is a core aspect of this issue,” Hanson said. “The Plumas National Forest is claiming it needs to do massive backcountry logging and that it will supposedly protect communities from fire but we know for certain that is a complete failure as a public safety strategy. We know that because of Paradise, we know that because of Gridley Flats, we know that because of Greenville, and we know because of Berry Creek and many others I could list.”
The lawsuit is still in its early stages and no dates have been set yet.
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