Sierra County Fire safe and Watershed Council
Minutes October 29, 2010 Meeting

Roll Call/Introductions:  
Board present:  Nancy Finney, Lawrenc Devita, Robert Eshelman, Kathleen Goicoechea; absent: Peter Huebner, Gary Shelton, and Andrew Winberry.  Others:  Frank Stewart, Ruby Burk, Ernest Finney, and Executive Director, Cindy Noble.

Public Comment:  
Cindy and Ruby conducted a community meeting to disseminate information regarding burning the piles in the Loyalton Pines area.  The same five core people showed up from the Loyalton Pines area and two of the people have done extensive work on private property.  They will be ready for chipping the end of October.  No Loyalton residents attended.    The burning will be done on days when the moisture is high.  

Frank Stewart reported on three items: The meeting with the Quincy Library Group and Congressman Herger regarding a letter for stewardship contract funding and fuel for Fire Safe Councils.  Frank encourages the group to visit Forest Service Region 5 website. The BCAP process had a 90-day waiting period and will soon be released in the Federal Register.  The Stevens Act funding project proposal is on the shelf to do work on private property adjacent to forest service lands.

Nancy praised the fuel reduction work done by the Forest Service Yuba District at the top of the ridge at Alleghany.  The project used county road crews and almost connects to the SCFSWC 2009 Allegany project.

Approve Minutes: September 24, 2010
Lawrenc moved to approve, seconded by Robert, motion carried
Approve Agenda:  October 29, 2010
Lawrenc moved to approve, seconded by Robert, motion carried

1.  Board Member Reports:
       Kathleen wanted to know if contractors will be submitting bills for the Eastern Sierra County project or if she       should  transfer funds from the checking to saving account.  The money could be earning 4 tenths of 1 percent in the savings account.  The board decided to hold off until the end of the year.

2.  Staff Reports:
      a.  CA. Dept of Conservation-Watershed Coordinator funding application-Karen Sweet has submitted the    application for 187k rather than the 350k discussed at the last meeting.   She also will be submitting a bill to the SCFSWC for her work on the application.  
      b.  California Bio-diversity Council tour October 13th-  Cindy reported that she attended the University of California County Extension workshop “Balancing Wildlife Needs with Fire Hazard Reduction” presented by Mike Delasaux and Brian Lehi.  
      c. Map Updates- The Sierra County map is still in the draft stages.  July 2010 is the most current data showing more effective progress on the east side of the county than the west side.  John Sheehan comments in the Portola Reporter on updating the WUI (Wildland Urban Interface) designation maps in Plumas County.
      d.  CWPP-update- Meeting will be held in Sierra City , Downieville, and Goodyear’s Bar on November 13 headed up by Mr. Davey and Mr. Brown in Sierra City and November 15 Lee Adams will lead the meeting in Downieville. Cindy will send out post cards to announce the meetings.  The next CWPP meeting will be in Verdi at the Toiyabe Forest District.

3.  Sierra Pacific Industries-update-
      According to Mark Pawliki at SPI, Quincy will take logs but no chips and supposedly it is shut down for chipping.   Danielle reported that the ESCCWPP project decided to contract with Dave Allen at Honey Lake facilities which is a   longer haul but more efficient for contractor Clint because it’s hours of  operation are 24/7.  Reportedly, chip trucks in Quincy are backed up for three hours.

4.  Eastern Sierra Co. Community Wildfire Protectiion Project (ESCCWPP)-Banchio
      a.  Ground work status- The Graeagle contractor has equipment breakdowns so is 2 weeks behind.  Frost         conditions are better than rain.  The LDS Camp may begin in the winter .

      b.  Product removal- Material will be hauled to Honey Lake as mentioned above.
      c.  Project tour in Sierraville-  There is nothing to see yet.

Meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m.  Next meeting is scheduled for Downieville board room on Friday, December 3, 10:00 a.m.