Field Training: Fuels Treatments in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI): Lessons Learned from the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team
Friday, October 13th, 2023, 10:00am-5:00pm
This was an opportunity for the community of South Lake Tahoe to join the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team and Cal Poly’s Fuels and Vegetation Education Program for a field-based training that spans multiple fires in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Participants learned how representatives of Tahoe Basin fire agencies worked together to form the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team with the goal of protecting lives, property, and the environment within the Lake Tahoe Basin from wildfire by implementing prioritized fuels reduction projects and engaging the public in becoming a Fire Adapted Community.
In this field training, we visited several sites within the South Lake Tahoe community to better understand how the Gondola and Angora fires played a critical role in the outcome of the Caldor Fire. Participants learned about how local fuels reduction projects helped to slow the spread of fire and decreased fire severity, protected resources, and ultimately saved lives, homes, and communities. The goal of this training was to provide an opportunity for participants to learn more about what local agencies are doing to prepare for and prevent wildfires in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This training was an opportunity for agencies to engage in skills-based advocacy building exercise with local community leaders in an effort to create consistent messaging within the community and grow the local network of Fire Adapted Communities.
| Time | Item |
|---|---|
|
10:00am |
Workshop begins |
|
Angora Ridge Lookout |
|
|
Chief Chad Stephen: Welcome |
|
| Chief Jim Drennan: Relationships & Collaborations | |
| Martin Goldberg: Fire History | |
| Mike Vollmer: Fire History Continued | |
| Old Meyers Grade | |
|
|
Brian Newman: Christmas Valley and Caldor Fire Overview |
| Martin Goldberg: Community Teachings and Collaborations | |
| Chief Jim Drennan: Stateline to Summitt | |
| 1:00pm | Working lunch at California Conservation Core Convention Center |
|
2:00pm |
Pawnee Circle Neighborhood |
| Brian Newman: Living in a Fire Prone Community | |
| Vic Lyon: Community Action Now vs. in the Past | |
| Nadia Tase: Fuel Reduction Treatment Types in the WUI | |
| Martin Goldberg: Treating State vs. Private Lots | |
| Mike Vollmer: Open Space Management | |
| Fountain Place | |
| Vic Lyon: Timeline for Fuels Reduction Projects: Planning and Implementation | |
| Nadia Tase: Treatment Impacts, Challenges, and Barriers | |
| Brian Newman: Fuel Reduction in National Forest Land | |
| Lower Corral Trailhead | |
|
Vic Lyon: Fire Severity Effects in Untreated Forest |
|
| Nadia Tase: Climate Change and Wildfire in the Sierras | |
| Mike Vollmer: Fire Adapted Landscapes and Communities: Role of Good Fire | |
| Martin Goldberg: Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) | |
| Brian Newman: Ready, Set, Go Messaging | |
| Kelly Meyer: Skills-Based Advocacy Building Exercise | |
| 5:00pm | Field Training Ends |
Trainers:
Brian Newman, Assistant Chief, CAL FIRE Amador-El Dorado Unit, East Division Operations, Lake Tahoe Ca.
Nadia Tase, Climate Change & Forest Inventory Specialist, Fire and Resource Assessment Program, CAL FIRE
Victor Lyon, Vegetation Management Staff Officer, USDA Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
Victor Lyon is currently the Vegetation Management Staff Officer at the USDA, Forest Service, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. He graduated from UC Davis with a degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology, specializing in conservation biology, worked for three years with the Fish and Wildlife Service, and then joined the Forest Service in 2000 here in Lake Tahoe. Victor worked as a wildlife biologist for thirteen more years with the Forest Service, then as a District Ranger for five years, and in his current position since 2018. He grateful for the privilege and opportunity to continue managing forest health and fuel reduction projects with a holistic land stewardship approach on forest system lands and across ownerships with excellent partners in the Lake Tahoe area. Victor enjoys hiking, backpacking, mountain biking, rafting, snowboarding on our public lands.
Martin Goldberg, Fire Captain, Lake Valley Fire Protection District
Fire Captain Martin Goldberg has nearly 25 years in the fire service, having worked previously for San Luis Obispo County Fire / CALFIRE and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) before starting his career with the Lake Valley Fire Protection District (LVFPD) in 2001. Captain Goldberg is currently assigned to the LVFPD Prevention Division. Captain Goldberg holds a degree in Soil Science with a concentration in Environmental Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Captain Goldberg has actively participated in the Tahoe Fire and Fuels Team (TFFT) since its inception in 2008 and is recognized by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA) as a qualified forester. Captain Goldberg has fostered defensible space and home hardening on private lands in South Lake Tahoe for close to 15 years.
Mike Vollmer, Executive Director, Tahoe Resource Conservation District
Mike Vollmer is the Executive Director at the Tahoe Resource Conservation District with a career spanning over three decades in natural resource management. He has worked in the Lake Tahoe region since 2001. Mike's passion lies in preparing communities for wildfires, sustainable resource management, disturbance ecology, and restoration ecology (including prescribed fire). Mike is a Registered Professional Forester (RPF) and Certified Arborist and has held key positions at organizations such as the Institute for Sustainable Forestry, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Nevada Fire Safe Council, North Tahoe Fire Protection District, Nevada Division of Forestry, and now at the Tahoe Resource Conservation District. In his role as Executive Director, Mike Vollmer combines his academic knowledge with practical experience, driving positive change in the realm of environmental stewardship.
