Lessons Learned about Forest Restoration from the West Mount Shasta Forest Resiliency Project
Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, 9:00am – 4:35pm
This field workshop was an opportunity to learn about forest restoration at multiple sites in Siskiyou County. Participants increased their understanding of how forest restoration practices can increase forest ecosystem health and wildfire resiliency using lessons learned from the West Mount Shasta Forest Resiliency Project. The use of the CalVTP and other environmental assessment options available to those implementing forestry projects was also discussed.
Dan Blessing, Forestry and Fuel Program Manager at the Shasta Valley RCD, covered funding, objectives, and the RCD's role in the West Mount Shasta Forest Resiliency Project. Micheal McGill, Forestry and Fuels Project Coordinator at the Shasta Valley RCD, discussed managing landowners, contracts, and implementation of the fuels work for the project. Jennifer Womack, Planning and Implementation Manager for the US Forest Service, provided an overview of the setting, including the wildland-urban interface and wildfire risk. Hannah Link, Conservation Coordinator at Siskiyou Land Trust introduced the site at Wherrit Forest and Kathleen Hitt, Executive Director of Siskiyou Land Trust, covered the land use history and forest ecology. Danielle Linder and Dustin Linder, Co-owners of Jefferson Resource Company, described the treatments used across different sites, including their results and effectiveness. Pamela Brillante, Senior Biologist at Ascent Environmental, overviewed biological constraints as they pertain to the CalVTP. Foresters from CAL FIRE's Siskiyou Unit, Steve Wilson, Jeremy Ravenscroft, and Pete Feller, addressed the logging operations that have occurred at the Wherrit Property and the Shasta Ranch Property. Steve and Pete also discussed the desired outcome of fuel treatments, including masticating, chipping, or burning. Jeremy discussed community focused fuels reduction projects and how project design relating to fire resilient forest structure can help or hinder fire suppression efforts. Steve covered how the CAL FIRE Forest Legacy Program uses Working Forest Conservation Easements to conserve forest lands in perpetuity that are threatened with conversion to non-forest uses. Finally, Seth Pindell, CAL FIRE Siskiyou Unit Captain, provided insights into prescribed fire planning, logistics, project constraints, and goals that occurred on the North Shore Rx project.
| Time | Item |
|---|---|
| 9:00am | Field workshop begins |
| Overview of the Surrounding Areas | |
|
Site 1: Wherrit Property Site Overview & History Conservation Easements Project Funding and Objectives Treatment Types, Implementation, Maintenance, & Results Fire Resiliency and Forest Health |
|
| 12:00pm |
Lunch |
|
Site 2: Shasta Ranch Road Site Overview & Project Introduction Biological Constraints Other Site Constraints |
|
|
Site 3: North Shore Road Site Overview & Treatment History Project Logistics Treatment Results Logging Operations Constraints Burn Planning, Logistics, & Goals |
|
| 4:35pm |
Field workshop ends |
Trainers:
Dan Blessing, Forestry and Fuel Program Manager, Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District
Dan has over 45 years of forestry and fuels management experience in Siskiyou County, most of it with the US Forest Service Klamath National Forest. Since 2017 he has been working with the SVRCD to develop a forestry program and assist landowners with creating a resilient forested condition on their lands and a more defensible landscape around their homes.
Michael McGill, Forestry and Fuels Project Coordinator, Shasta Valley Resource Conservation District
Michael has worked for the Shasta Valley RCD since 2022 as a Forestry and Fuels Project Manager. Michael holds a B.S. in Environmental Science and Management from UC Davis. Though based out of Mt. Shasta City, his responsibilities involve the full suite of RCD projects, ranging throughout the diverse geography of Siskiyou County. Recreationally, Michael spends much of his time on (and off!) the trails of Klamath Mountains and on the rivers that drain them.
Pamela Brillante, Senior Biologist, Ascent Environmental
Pamela Brillante is a senior biologist with 18 years technical experience in wildlife biology, and plant and wetland ecology throughout California and Nevada. She helps manage natural resources projects and leads large-scale field efforts. She also prepares biological resources evaluation reports, including CalVTP Project-Specific Analysis, CEQA and NEPA documents, Endangered Species Act consultation supporting documents, permit applications, management plans, and compliance, monitoring, and technical reports.
Jennifer Womack, Planning and Implementation Manager, Shasta McCloud Management Unit, Shasta-Trinity National Forest
Jennifer is a Planning and Implementation Manager on the Shasta McCloud Management Unit of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. She helps oversee the planning efforts for NEPA projects on the district and helps facilitate cooperation between FS staff and partners on implementation efforts of the Program of Work for the Management Unit around Mt. Shasta and McCloud. She has lived and worked for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and Klamath National Forest for over 13 years.
Dustin Lindler, Chief Executive Officer, Jefferson Resource Company, Inc., RPF #2701
Dustin was born and raised in Burney, California and graduated from Humboldt State University with a degree in Forestry. His family migrated from the southeastern US to Oregon after work in the southern yellow pine belt started to dry up in the early 20th century. Dustin’s family has been involved in the timber industry in some way or another since that time. Dustin started in the natural resources field as a spotted owl surveyor in 1993 and has worked exclusively in the private sector since that time for both consultants and industrial timber companies. Dustin and his wife Danielle bought Berryman and Associates, a timberland consultant based out of McCloud, CA in 2001. They have been managing and growing the firm since that time, including the incorporation and name change in 2006 to Jefferson Resource Company, Inc. Dustin is the operational manager of roughly 80,000 acres of timberland in Northern California. In addition, Dustin consults on forest practice and other CEQA compliance decisions during post-fire disaster recovery programs; acting as principal liaison between client and public agency representatives on both procedural and technical details covering most major wildfires in California from 2020 through 2023.
Danielle Lindler, Chief Executive Officer, Jefferson Resource Company, Inc., RPF #2691, PCA #70419
Danielle Lindler is the CEO of Jefferson Resource Company, Inc. Danielle, a sixth-generation Californian who graduated in 1997 with a B.S in Forestry with an emphasis in Forest Production and a minor in Environmental Ethics from Humboldt State University. Danielle is a Registered Professional Forester and a Pest Control Advisor. She serves on the Professional Foresters Exam Committee under the State BOF, is Vice Chair of the Siskiyou County Planning Commission, is the chair of the California Forest Pest Council and is on the board of the Forest Vegetation Management Conference. Danielle is the past Program coordinator for the Forest Vegetation Management Conference, past Chairman of the Board for the California Growth & Yield Modeling Cooperative, and past executive director of KARE. She was awarded Conservationist of the Year by the California Forestry Association and awarded the Roy Derek Berridge award by the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference.
She has been married for 25 years, has two children and has resided in Siskiyou since 1998.
Steve Wilson, Unit Forester, Siskiyou Unit, CAL FIRE
Steve is the Unit Forester for CAL FIRE in the Siskiyou Unit. He is a Registered Professional Forester with more than three decades of forestry experience in California. As the Unit Forester, Steve is responsible for the Forest Practice Program, Vegetation Management Program, forestry assistance to landowners and grant oversight within the county. Steve is dedicated to collaborating with landowners, stakeholders and agency partners to enhance the sustainability, fire resilience and overall forest health within the county.
Jeremy Ravenscroft, Vegetation Management Program Forester, Siskiyou Unit, CAL FIRE
Jeremy is a Registered Professional Forester who began his Forestry career with Fruit Growers Supply Company based in the historic mill town of Hilt, California. His 21 year career with the company included heavy equipment operation in maintaining, rehabilitating, and hydrologically disconnecting hundreds of miles of forest road systems; Timber and inventory cruising; Timber harvest document preparation; Long-term timber harvest planning, Biological surveys including Northern Spotted Owl and botanical resources; Archaeological surveys and documentation; Forest restoration projects related to montane meadow and Aspen restoration; Reforestation including cone collection, site preparation, and conifer planting post-harvest, including post-fire reforestation across several thousand acres of private ownership. In 2020, Jeremy stepped into the role of Vegetation Management Program Forester for the Siskiyou Unit of CAL FIRE. Since working for CAL FIRE, Jeremy has been involved in and developing fuels reduction projects ranging from Right-of-Way mastication and thinning to large scale VMP prescribed burns and fuel break construction. Jeremy enjoys working with landowners, neighborhood groups, Wildfire Prevention, and Forest Health grantees, and agency partners around the county to plan and prepare for more resilient and healthy ecosystems.
Pete Feller, Forest Practice Inspector, Siskiyou Unit, CAL FIRE
My name is Peter L. Feller, I am a Registered Professional Forester working as a Forest Practice inspector for CALFIRE in the Siskiyou unit. I have resided in Siskiyou County since 1980. My career in forestry started in 1974 marking and cruising timber for private landowners and local timber companies.
Seth Pindell, Fire Captain, Sikiyou Unit, CAL FIRE
Seth is a Fire Captain for CAL FIRE in the Siskiyou Unit. He has 29 years of experience in fire suppression and fire resilience projects, 16 years with CAL FIRE and 13 years with the U.S.F.S. Seth currently works on Vegetation Management Plan projects within Siskiyou County and is a Prescribed Fire Incident Commander.
Hannah Link, Conservation Coordinator, Wherrit Forest, Siskiyou Land Trust
As Conservation Coordinator, Hannah supports land conservation, stewardship, volunteer engagement and outreach on lands owned and managed by Siskiyou Land Trust.
Kathleen Hitt, Executive Director, Siskiyou Land Trust
Kathleen has been the heart and soul of Siskiyou Land Trust (SLT) for nearly fourteen years. As ED, Kathleen is a leading voice for conservation in our community and directs our organization’s mission dedicated to protecting and stewarding agricultural, forest and wildlands in Siskiyou County in perpetuity.
