White Fir Ridge Fuels Reduction and Forest Health (SNC1823)

The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) would provide funding for the California Deer Association to partner with the United States Forest Service, Inyo National Forest, to implement fuels-reduction activities on Inyo National Forest lands, adjacent to the Town of Mammoth Lakes. Current conditions of the project area include high tree density, tree mortality, and surface fuel loads, which in the event of an ignition would likely result in high-severity wildfire that would threaten the safety of the community and the stability of forest ecosystems. This project will treat at least 412 acres via conifer and understory thinning, which will reduce hazardous fuel loads, protect local communities and critical infrastructure, and establish the conditions necessary for the safe reintroduction of prescribed fire to restore natural fire regimes. These outcomes will be achieved by implementing approximately 91 acres of conifer thinning using mechanical treatments and 321 acres of understory thinning using hand-crew treatments.