Agencies collaborate to protect water, prevent fires in Clear Creek area near Carson City
Submitted by editor on Tue, 05/12/2015 - 3:04pm
The Nature Conservancy, working with federal, state and local agencies, as well as a private landowner, are collaborating on a forest restoration project designed to reduce the risk of catastrophic fires, protect onsite and neighboring structures, protect water supplies for people and enhance wildlife habitat near Carson City.
Forested mountains serve as nature’s water storage and filtering facilities. Frequent, high-severity wildfires and subsequent post-fire flooding increasingly threaten water that serves Carson City and surrounding areas. The restoration work will include thinning trees on at least 800 acres in the upper Clear Creek watershed.
“Thinning our forests make them healthier and more resilient to climate change and drought, says Duane Petite, the Conservancy’s Carson River program director. “We’re excited to collaborate on a project that benefits both people and nature.”
Many months of collaboration by 15 federal, state and local agencies, including the Nevada Division of Forestry, helped to identify the most at-risk areas in western Nevada.
“By thinning the trees in this area, there will be more plant and wildlife diversity and fire behavior will change dramatically,” says Ryan Shane, Nevada Division of Forestry’s community protection program coordinator. “For example, flames can reach up to eight feet high and climb into the tree crowns, making an uncontrollable crown fire in an overgrown forest, versus a reaching only a foot high in an area that has been thinned properly.”
A healthier forest also improves water quality. The US Geological Survey has been studying water in this watershed for 70 years. “Right now scientists are monitoring whether upstream development is affecting the amount of sediment in the water downstream, “adds David Berger, Associate Director, Nevada Water Science Center. “The new report by Jena Huntington will be released soon. “
In 2008, The Nature Conservancy worked with the owners of Clear Creek Tahoe to place a conservation easement on nearly 900 acres of its property. A conservation easement is a tool that prevents development by voluntarily limiting some uses on private land in order to protect its natural values.
“We have been very fortunate to have a long-standing and cooperative relationship with The Nature Conservancy and now, through that initial relationship, a very important partnership with The Nevada Division of Forestry,“ said Jim Taylor, managing partner of Clear Creek. “The Nevada Division of Forestry and its contractors have executed a scientifically appropriate yet aesthetically pleasing thinning of our Jeffrey Pine forest.”
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