SCFSWC Meets

The council has an upcoming project near Sierraville. The Sierraville District and the Fire Safe council are trying to maximize their efforts by working together on hazard fuel reduction, and on biomass disposal.

A significant portion of the meeting was taken up with the discussion of biomass in the county. Mr. Jim Turner was present from the Sierra Pacific Industries electrical cogen plant in Loyalton. Mr. Turner has been working with the Forest Service, local county supervisors Dave Goicoechea and Peter Huebner (also a FSWC Board member), and other people in the community to get enough material for the plant to operate.

According to Mr. Turner, the plant will be operating at a high rate of output. He reported that several times in the last few weeks the cogen plant has been providing electricity to the local area from the Sierra Valley to East Quincy. Local outages would have been much worse without the plant.

However, the increased production means the plant will need increased fuel. In recent years, the cogen plant has used about 100,000 tons of bone dry biomass. This year the need could increase to 170,000 tons.

Mr. Turner credited Quentin Youngblood, of the Sierraville Ranger District for "changing the way" biomass sales are done.

Tim Beals, Director of Planning for the County, and two County Planning staff, Brandon Pangman and Andrew Winberry were present. They engaged the Council and Mr. Turner on ways to get biomass from County Transfer stations.

The problem is that raw biomass is very expensive to ship. Dry, compressed or chipped material is far more economical to ship than green, loose biomass, which is mostly air and water and, per pound and per cubic yard, is less "carbon dense".

A discussion followed which concluded with a small committee being appointed to find information on biomass transportation problem solutions. The Fire Safe and Watershed Council might find funding to support a contract for specialized biomass handling equipment.

All present agreed that a top concern was to stop the open burning of biomass. State Air Quality regulations are becoming increasingly strict, and the hazard fuel removers of the district have to carefully manage burning. The county transfer station burns were mentioned, with a renewed determination on the part of all present to get more biomass to the cogen plant, and burn less.

Also present at the meeting were Steve Fulsom and Daniel Stack, of Cal Trans. They had been invited to meet with the board to discuss a shared priority of clearing the hazard fuel from along Highway 49, from about Sierra City to the county line.

Mr. Fulsom discussed the difficulties of what might seem to be a simple goal: make the only escape route for the West Side of the county safe during wildfire. The hurdles include a lack of funding; easements; the United States Forest Service, Comptonville, which "owns" much of the land along 49; environmental assessments; traffic control; biomass disposition.

Still, the board affirmed the priority of Highway 49 and its importance during wildfire, and resolved, with the cooperation of local Cal Trans, to start a project which will take at least five years to complete.

The next meeting will be on February 26^th, at 10:00 o’clock, at a location to be determined.