Pine Ridge-Summit Level Fuelbreak

Pine Ridge-Summit Level Fuelbreak

This project involves the clearance of vegetation (fuel) on a prevailing ridge determined strategic for wildland fire control. Starting at 2,720 feet, the fuelbreak follows an unnamed ridge that joins with Pine Ridge and climbs up to East Summit Level Road at 4,000 feet. The east end of the fuelbreak is 0.1 miles south on Summit Level Road and stops at the parcel boundary with USFS property. The purpose of this project is to set the width of the contingency line at 150 feet width for the entire six miles via mechanical mastication and hand crew work with some hand pile construction and hand pile burning. The fuelbreak will average 150 feet in width and in total, cover 144 acres. The prescription for these areas is near-complete removal of ladder fuels (brush and trees less than 10” diameter breast height or dbh) along with suppressed and intermediate conifers and hardwood trees larger than 10” dbh. Thinning of the codominant and dominant trees will occur with a target basal area of 50 square feet per acre and other than some groupings of residual trees, crowns that do not intermingle. Dead and decadent stands of manzanita and other ladder fuels will be removed. The majority of black oaks will be retained regardless of canopy position. Other tree species such as madrone and dogwood will be left to create diversity and provide wildlife benefits. Remaining stems will be pruned up to 15 feet of ground level. This work will be achieved by hand crews with chain saws, pruning saws, mechanical chippers and mechanical masticators. This NOE will cover ongoing fuels reduction for approximately 10 years. In 2030, CAL FIRE will re-assess the environmental setting and amend the CEQA file for this project, as appropriate.

Calaveras