Background
Large numbers of trees
and chaparral are dying in southern California due to four years of drought and
a population explosion of bark beetles. Composting and other organic processing
facilities within the three-county area may be processing enormous quantities of
wood waste as tree and vegetation removal increases within or near the highly
urbanized mountain communities in San Bernardino, Riverside, and San Diego
counties.
Actions
On March 7, 2003,
Governor Gray Davis proclaimed a State of Emergency in Riverside, San
Bernardino, and San Diego Counties where hundreds of thousands of trees are dead
and dying after being weakened by drought and bark
beetles. The Governor directed the
California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection (CDF), to take immediate steps to protect public safety by clearing
effective routes for evacuation and emergency response and by establishing fire
safe evacuation centers. The Governor also tasked the
Office of Emergency
Services (OES) to support CDF in its efforts as well as to work with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency to redirect $3.3 million in unused federal hazard
mitigation dollars to the three-county area. A horrific fire siege occurred
during October and November of 2003 causing loss of life and catastrophic damage
in Southern California Fire Siege 2003.
Since that time, multi-agency taskforces have begun the monumental undertaking
of removing tree mortalities and chaparral that pose an immediate fire threat to
mountain communities and their evacuation routes.
Resources
An estimated 800,000
acres in San Bernardino and Riverside counties of standing, dead trees and
chaparral existed at the Spring of 2004 creating an extreme fire danger in Southern
California. Tree mortality is most pronounced in conifer species in the
mountains of the San Bernardino National Forest. The extreme fire danger
associated with tree mortalities in the mountains of the Cleveland National
Forest is compounded by an enormous amount of dead chaparral within San Diego
County. A significant volume of dead
vegetation needs to be removed in the three-county area. Most of these dead trees and chaparral are found
on government owned land. In order to reduce the fuel loading that currently
exists in the State recreational areas and the federal forest areas adjacent to
numerous mountain communities, the majority of the cut timber
and unprocessed wood waste should be taken out of the area. There is no apparent
relief from the bark beetle infestation or continued tree mortality exasperated
by multi-year drought conditions until normal rainfall in Southern California
occurs for about three consecutive years.
Bark Beetles and
Zones of Infestation
Current Information on
the Southern California Situation
Each Mountain Area Safety Taskforce (MAST) in
San Bernardino County or Riverside County and the Forest Area Safety Taskforce
(FAST) in San Diego County made a number of recommendations to mitigate the fire
danger and insure public safety in their respective communities. These three
advisory organizations comprised
of government agencies, private companies and volunteer organizations are
concerned with public safety in the mountain areas of their county.
CDF, Caltrans and Southern California
Edison work crews began removal of high hazard trees near emergency refuge
areas, along evacuation corridors and under utility lines in 2003. Removal of
dead and dying trees in Southern California intensified with the influx of
multi-million dollar federal grant funds in 2004. San Diego County Public Works
is contracting for the majority of trees that began in 2004.
The
California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, the US Forest Service (USFS) and local government agencies, are receptive to entrepreneurial proposals
regarding biomass use since a mammoth amount of dead vegetation from Southern
California will continue to be processed in future years. CDF, USFS and San
Bernardino County staff made portable mills available to various wood-product
companies that initiated operations in San Bernardino County during 2003. The
Colmax Energy biomass-to-energy facility located in Cabazon continues to use a
significant portion of wood waste generated within Riverside County. Please
visit the MAST/FAST Web sites regarding on-going vegetation removal and public
safety information available to local residents and people visiting the mountain
communities in or near the San Bernardino National Forest or Cleveland National
Forest.
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