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Rifle Peak Hand Crew members Brandon Merideth and Nick Summers work on removing overgrown vegetation Tuesday morning next to Third Creek.
Hand crews from the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District started work this week on the Third Creek stream zone.
The Slide Mountain and Rifle Peak hand crews are working to reduce fuels in the area for most of the month and are using state of the art equipment, said John Pickett of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels team.
Pickett is helping to oversee the project, which involves using machines specially designed for stream zones. He works for every Lake Tahoe Basin fire agency, focusing on fuels reduction work while balancing environmental needs.
“We talk about stream environments as sensitive areas, and what we want to do is think about fire suppression and implementing forest health,” Pickett said. “One of the machines we’re using to do that is a cut to length processor, which cuts down a tree, limbs it and stacks the logs for another machine to pick up and take out of the area.”
Pickett said the Third Creek zone is very sensitive, with clay-like soil, so the cut to length processor rides on six “balloon tires.” The tires displace the machine’s weight across a wide area, and Pickett said soil in the Third Creek zone is more threatened by foot traffic than the thinning machines.
The primary focus of the project is to minimize the chance that a wildland fire could be carried through Incline Village by vegetation along the creek. Improving the overall health of the forest and streamside vegetation is the way to do that, Pickett said.
He said the forest will be healthier when willows and alder trees are thinned along the stream’s route through Incline.
The work is scheduled to last about three more weeks, said Norb Szczurek, NLTFPD division chief. He said the crews will be thinning out the area of brush and other hazardous fuels which constitute a fire safety danger.
“Our primary concern is the safety of our community. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this project, we understand the community may have preferred more notice of the project, but the equipment is one of only two sets in Nevada and Northern California, so we had to take our opportunity when it became available,” Szczurek said. “I am grateful for everyone’s patience while we do this important work. A healthy forest means a healthy lake.”
Szczurek also asked residents and visitors to stay out of the active thinning areas and watch for signs along the creek.
He said the project surfaced after officials from the Incline Village General Improvement District, which owns the property, expressed concern about the forest’s thickness near the stream zone.
The funding for this program is made possible from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act monies, focusing on hazardous fuels reduction in the Tahoe Basin.
The Slide Mountain and Rifle Peak hand crews are working to reduce fuels in the area for most of the month and are using state of the art equipment, said John Pickett of the Tahoe Fire and Fuels team.
Pickett is helping to oversee the project, which involves using machines specially designed for stream zones. He works for every Lake Tahoe Basin fire agency, focusing on fuels reduction work while balancing environmental needs.
“We talk about stream environments as sensitive areas, and what we want to do is think about fire suppression and implementing forest health,” Pickett said. “One of the machines we’re using to do that is a cut to length processor, which cuts down a tree, limbs it and stacks the logs for another machine to pick up and take out of the area.”
Pickett said the Third Creek zone is very sensitive, with clay-like soil, so the cut to length processor rides on six “balloon tires.” The tires displace the machine’s weight across a wide area, and Pickett said soil in the Third Creek zone is more threatened by foot traffic than the thinning machines.
The primary focus of the project is to minimize the chance that a wildland fire could be carried through Incline Village by vegetation along the creek. Improving the overall health of the forest and streamside vegetation is the way to do that, Pickett said.
He said the forest will be healthier when willows and alder trees are thinned along the stream’s route through Incline.
The work is scheduled to last about three more weeks, said Norb Szczurek, NLTFPD division chief. He said the crews will be thinning out the area of brush and other hazardous fuels which constitute a fire safety danger.
“Our primary concern is the safety of our community. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding during this project, we understand the community may have preferred more notice of the project, but the equipment is one of only two sets in Nevada and Northern California, so we had to take our opportunity when it became available,” Szczurek said. “I am grateful for everyone’s patience while we do this important work. A healthy forest means a healthy lake.”
Szczurek also asked residents and visitors to stay out of the active thinning areas and watch for signs along the creek.
He said the project surfaced after officials from the Incline Village General Improvement District, which owns the property, expressed concern about the forest’s thickness near the stream zone.
The funding for this program is made possible from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act monies, focusing on hazardous fuels reduction in the Tahoe Basin.
