Placer County Resilience Digest

The California Tahoe Conservancy has awarded two grants to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk in the Lake Tahoe Basin.

Bureau of Reclamation contracts goats to devour brush in Auburn State Recreation Area; prevention work will extend for years, but no trail closures anticipated.

Scientists at the University of Nevada, Reno, are using a variety of new technologies with massive amounts of data and computational power to model and map fire-vulnerable forest vegetation across millions of acres in California.

Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, trying to ease an insurance crisis that’s hurt rural California, has announced that all carriers active in fire-prone communities must incorporate his “Safer from Wildfires” program into their premiums.

According to the first in a series of reports to come from a consulting firm hired by California officials, PG&E’s efforts to improve wildfire safety are hindered by aging equipment, damaged power poles and hazardous trees that went undetected by the utility’s crews.

The U.S. Forest Service has signed an MOU for a public-private partnership to increase forest management in the Middle Truckee River Watershed. The partnership includes the National Forest Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, Truckee Meadows Water Authority and Truckee River Watershed Council.

To service all remaining requests for defensible space evaluations and chipping prior to potential inclement weather, the last day to request chipping and defensible space evaluations from North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District is Oct. 23.

California has temporarily banned insurance companies from dropping customers in areas affected by recent wildfires, a day after evacuation orders were lifted for residents near the Mosquito Fire.

In the wake of losing Paradise, Greenville and Grizzly Flats in recent years, the Mosquito Fire nearly wiped another California town off the map—but firefighters and luck saved the Placer County town of Foresthill.

Placer Community Foundation has launched the Mosquito Fire Relief Fund to accept donations from those who wish to support local fire victims. Dollars raised by the fund will be mobilized at the earliest opportunity to meet the greatest needs.

The California Tahoe Conservancy is awarding a $406,500 grant to the Tahoe Resource Conservation District to reduce wildfire danger and coordinate regional efforts to update the Lake Tahoe Basin Community Wildfire and Protection Plan.

For those living in wildfire-ravaged regions, help might be on the way. Covered California recently announced an application window for victims of wildfires, as well as those who live in fire-prone regions, to apply for assistance.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution ratifying the receipt of funding for the French Meadows Ecological Restoration Project. The project aims to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire through fuel treatment.

Local agencies throughout the Tahoe region have banded together to educate residents on the importance of forest thinning and controlled fires. A recent press tour demonstrated that new state funding has allowed near completion of the thinning and burning efforts.

California faces the prospect of a drought-fueled summer of power shortages, hydroelectric plant shutdowns and rising electricity costs, a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration warns.

Some Californians have spent thousands of dollars trying to fireproof their homes to reduce their risk of burning. But taking those steps doesn’t prevent their premiums from ballooning, or keep them from being dropped by their insurance company.

Residents are getting an annual refresher on what to do if they see or smell smoke, including an emphasis on calling 911 if you see a potential fire.

Efforts have been made to explain red flag warnings to residents—including what to do and what not to do when it comes to wildfire prevention.

President Joe Biden’s order to protect the nation’s oldest forests sparks a question: When does a forest grow old? Underlining the urgency of the issue are wildfires in California that killed thousands of giant sequoias in recent years.

California and Nevada are experiencing a third year of drought, and the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team is attempting to get ahead of wildfires through an awareness campaign.

The state of California has released an Extreme Heat Action Plan outlining a comprehensive set of state actions to adapt and strengthen resilience to extreme heat.

This year figures to be a bad one for California wildfires. The driest regions include parts of the North Bay area and the northern Sacramento Valley, each devastated by major fires since 2017.

Aerosols carried in wildfire smoke plumes that are hundreds of hours old can still affect climate, according to a study out of the University of California, Davis.

The annual Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program Summit brought together California leaders, scientists, and community and tribal leaders to discuss strategies for wildfire recovery and resilience.

Winery owner and UC Santa Cruz chemistry professor Phil Crews teamed up with a group of researchers to conduct a study on how the taste of wine was affected by wildfire smoke.

As remote work has grown, so has the threat of cyberattacks. Without a team of IT professionals, how are remote workers and freelancers to protect themselves from these threats?

Two California congressional representatives, Tom McClintock and Doug LaMalfa, have introduced legislation directing the U.S. Forest Service to suppress wildfires on national forest system lands and end the policy of letting fires burn.

Despite spending nearly $4.9 billion last year to prevent wildfires, PG&E Corp. still found itself responsible for the second-largest fire in California history. This year it promises to shell out almost $6 billion on its 2022 “wildfire mitigation plan.”

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Governing Board has approved an increase in the pace and scale of forestry work in the region. The decision expands the areas where ground-based mechanical equipment can be used on steep slopes.

California’s wildfires have been burning hotter and longer. Cal Fire keeps records of acres burned, structures destroyed and human lives lost, but there are no records of how many animals die or are injured by wildfires.

Some plants and patches of Earth withstand heat and dry spells better than others. A new Stanford University study shows those different coping mechanisms are closely linked to wildfire burn areas.

The Operation Sierra Storm Meteorologist Conference, held Jan. 9-12 in South Lake Tahoe, touched on a topic vital to the region: extreme weather.