Two-day workshop focuses on planning for wildfire resilience and post-fire restoration
- Elizabeth Larson
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Community members and landowners are invited to a two-day workshop that will focus on the work to protect communities from wildfire and to restore lands damaged by fires.
FireScape Mendocino will host the in-person “Collaborative Planning Workshop for Wildfire Resilience and Post-fire Restoration” workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 16, and Thursday, Nov. 17.
The workshop is free. Participants should plan to attend both days and should register in advance online at https://bit.ly/Firescape-14.
FireScape Mendocino is a collaborative of private citizens and public organizations focused on creating more fire-resilient landscapes in and around the Mendocino National Forest. This is the 14th workshop hosted by the organization.
The group said private landowners and land managers interested in learning potential operational delineations, or PODs, for wildfire resilience and the Mendocino National Forest’s post-fire restoration strategy should attend.
The group said speakers from tribes, local and federal agencies will be presenting information and looking for public feedback.
Topics planned for the workshop include forest restoration and resiliency on the Upper Lake Ranger District, potential operational delineations, or PODs, planning process and values at risk and ecologically-based post-fire restoration for Mendocino National Forest.
The workshop schedule includes a field trip to the Upper Lake Ranger District on Nov. 16. Participants should meet at the Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino, 1545 E. State Hwy 20, Nice, Calif., at 8:30 am before carpooling to the forest.
On Nov. 17, the workshop will be conducted at the Robinson Rancheria Resort and Casino from 8:30 am to 4 pm.
Bob Schneider is working with FireScape Mendocino on the workshop and is co-lead on the core management team. He generally works to represent the conservation community and general public.
Schneider said California is being subdivided into PODS, a management tool for fire and fuel that also can help with fire restoration and planning. POD boundaries are never finalized, but constantly updated and refined.
He said the concept came out of the Rocky Mountain Research Station.
The U.S. Forest Services explains that PODs are “fire management and planning units whose boundaries are defined by potential control features (e.g., roads, natural barriers), and within which fire risk to values can be quantified and summarized.”
From a firefighter perspective, Schneider said PODs include ridges, roads and areas where firefighters can manage, control or direct fires.
The PODs concept extends beyond physical boundaries, but also what an area includes — such as cultural and important biological resources, Schneider said. “It’s kind of a preplanning management tool.”
As an example, with the 2018 Ranch fire, when it was burning north, Schneider said firefighters felt they would be able to use Brushy Ridge as a control line. “That actually worked at that location.”
Schneider said PODs are being used throughout Lake County, including by Cal Fire.
“I don’t think Lake County per se has had any workshops or involvement with PODs to date, so this is one of the first opportunities,” he said.
While this workshop is about the Mendocino National Forest, it also will inform people about what might happen in Lake County to manage wildfire if it occurs, Schneider said.
Schneider said he attended a workshop at Pepperwood Preserve in Santa Rosa almost a year ago in which they were discussing the west side of the Mendocino National Forest. However, he felt they needed to be doing something for the whole forest, and that became the genesis of this month’s workshop.
He pointed out that in Lake County, all along the Northshore, the top of the ridge is bordered by the Mendocino National Forest.
The question is, how should these areas be best managed for the values of the communities and the forest, and prevent fires from moving back and forth between them, Schneider said, explaining the Nov. 16 field trip will look at that aspect.
The workshop will then move to forest resilience and management and what kind of forest to work toward. “We kinda have this blank slate right now,” Schneider said.
At the workshop, Schneider said they will have two means of engagement for the public — paper maps as well as the link to the online map, available on this page, for people to access, consider and to use for submitting comments in sharing their interests and values.
He said FireScape Mendocino can’t make decisions but can provide information to the forest, which can then take the suggestions and use them for planning and restoration projects.
Schneider said this process is an opportunity to come together to address fire in the region. “It can lead to an ability to have more prescribed fire.”
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