Election: My sincere thanks to my
constituents for re-electing me as their Supervisor. It will be my honor and privilege to
serve you for another four years.
Forest Workshop Follow-up: The County Board of
Supervisors is continuing to seek strategies to increase our involvement with federal land
management agencies in their land use and project planning processes. We hope to increase
opportunities for timber harvest and fuel reduction – particularly activities that
will restore “timber receipt” monies to Siskiyou County Schools and Roads.
Sean Curtis and June Roberts recently gave a presentation to the
Board on the Modoc County Land Use Committee. Both Modoc and Siskiyou Counties have a Land
and Resource Management Plan that establishes policies regarding the consideration of
social, cultural, economic and environmental impacts of planned use of federally managed
resources (public lands.) However, Modoc County has created a structure to implement its
County plan.
The Modoc Committee is an appointed body made up of 10-12 people who
use the federal lands are most likely to have conflicts with plans for their management.
This includes grazers, loggers, hunters, fishermen, etc. Federal proposals come in to the
County by mail. Sean reviews them and sorts them into significant/ insignificant. If they
are significant, but small, he has the latitude to pull in a few members of the Executive
Committee, along with anyone with special expertise or knowledge, to review the proposal.
For larger proposals with longer comment periods, the whole committee reviews and
discusses the proposal. Sean drafts comments from the meetings for recommendation to the
Board of Supervisors. The Board reviews and finalizes them.
In addition, Sean works daily with the federal land management
agencies – such as the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service. Guided by the County’s Land Plan, he serves on their
Inter-disciplinary Teams (IDT) when they are planning. He may engage in lengthy
discussions with them on project design. Sometimes a Committee member whose represented
interest is particularly impacted will accompany him.
The County may also identify questions that it needs answered by the
federal; agency, such as economic impacts of a proposed action. Also, a County can’t
comment on what isn’t being done. The process gives the County the opportunity to
initiate proposals that it feels need to be done, (such as the recently initiated Sage
Steppe Ecosystem Restoration Plan.)
Sean indicated that there are several ways that the County may become
involved with the federal agencies: Community Wildfire Protection Plans; the Forest
Service Resource Advisory Committee; consultation in regards to Stewardship Contracting
authority; Cooperating Agency Agreements; and through a Memorandum of Understanding –
such as one for County representation on the IDT.
If you might be interested in serving on such a Committee for Siskiyou
County, please let me know at P.O. Box 750, Yreka, CA 96097.
Fire and Siskiyou County: The Board of Supervisors will be holding
a workshop on Fire on Tuesday June 27 at 9 a.m. at the Miner’s Inn Convention Center.
There will be presentations on: the recent “Municipal Services Review” of Fire
Services; trends in fire insurance (ISO ratings); status of the Blue Ribbon Report; status
of the Countywide Wildfire Protection Plan (Fire Safe Council); funding constraints;
developments in building requirements and vegetation clearance; and requirements for
volunteers. |
