Projects
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The Pilot Project
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About the Pilot Project
The City of Colfax successfully executed a Prop 13 grant for a community watershed and fire safe ecosystem demonstration project. The project had five components:
- The US Forest Service (USFS) conducted analyses, fire behavior modeling, and strategic planning resulting in a Colfax areawide strategic plan for shaded fuel break locations.
- A fire safe project was executed using neighborhood self-organization through cost share incentives, educational promotion, and administrative support.
- Project implementation was conducted utilizing ecosystem sensitive methods: three different mastication techniques were combined with hand crews and chipping methods. The project area consisted of fuel loaded urban residential parcels as well as timber production forest stands.
- Water quality impacts were assessed using an Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) methodology estimating soil loss; the project site had no water bodies for sampling. Photomonitoring was the monitoring component. Fire impacts on water quality were addressed at a landscape level from both historical and policy level perspectives.
- Project conclusions, education, and outreach included findings from analysis and strategic planning, lessons learned in the sociological approach through extensive participant evaluations, and proposals for policy level solutions.
A CD and web-based action toolkit of useful resources were created for Fire Safe Councils and homeowners interested. The Final Grant Report (PDF*, 5.2 MB) describes the entire process in detail.
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