Under pressure from the Trump Administration and Congress, the Forest Service is ramping up logging projects on our National Forests. In early October, the agency approved the Lake Tahoe West Restoration Project, which proposes mechanical thinning (logging) on 11,262 acres of public land overlooking Lake Tahoe and construction of more than 36 miles of new roads and reopening more than 53 miles of closed and decommissioned roads. The supposed purpose of the project is to reduce wildfire fuels and restore the area’s forest ecosystem.
Some of the project’s new and reopened roads are located in the Stanford Rock Backcountry Area, which CalWild proposed for addition to the Granite Chief Wilderness in the 2005 Lake Tahoe Forest Plan. CalWild is concerned about the project’s impact on backcountry recreation, scenery, and water quality. Roads and logging are significant sources of erosion and sedimentation into Lake Tahoe. In approving the project, the Forest Service ignored CalWild’s plea to choose a less intensive alternative that avoided building new roads in the Stanford Rock Backcountry Area and mechanically treating fuels on steep erosive slopes. The project was approved under a provision of federal law that waives the public right to object to the project administratively, which means the only way to challenge the project is in court.
Approval of the Lake Tahoe West Project is just one aspect of a major push to log more National Forest land in the name of wildfire fuels management and ecosystem restoration. The recently approved “Big Beautiful Budget” bill passed by Congress this summer orders the Forest Service to arbitrarily double National Forest logging by 2032.
While CalWild supports thinning of forests to reduce wildlfire fuels and restore forest ecosystems, we believe that it should be done in a manner that protects roadless areas, endangered species habitat, recreational opportunities, and water quality. We support careful hand thinning in roadless areas and critical wildlife habitat. The current crush of projects intended to reduce fuels and restore ecosystems is a return to the rampant commercial logging of the 1960s and 70s, which led to the decline of many old growth dependent animal species, increased water quality impacts, and the expansion of even-aged tree farms that are more flammable than undisturbed forests.
The Lake Tahoe West Project is just one of several to which CalWild has reviewed and submitted extensive detailed comments. Other projects of concern include the:
North Yuba Landscape Resilience Project – Located on the Tahoe National Forest, this project was approved in 2023 and is being implemented in stages. CalWild is concerned that the project will degrade scenic views along Highway 49 and the North Yuba River, as well as mechanically thin trees in the East Yuba Inventoried Roadless Area and along a segment of Pauley Creek. Both the North Yuba River and Pauley Creek were determined eligible for National Wild and Scenic River protection due to their outstanding scenery, recreation, and hydrological values.
West Lassen Headwaters Landscape Restoration Project – Located on the Lassen National Forest and adjacent to Lassen Volcanic National Park, the Forest Service just completed its public comment period on this project’s Draft Environmental Analysis. Unfortunately, the analysis failed to consider potential project impacts on Mill and Deer Creeks, two streams that drain the project area which the Forest Service has recommended for National Wild and Scenic Rivers protection. These streams are some of the last refuges in the Sacramento River watershed for threatened spring chinook salmon and steelhead.
Mokelumne Amador Calaveras Forest Resilience Project – The massive 250,000-acre Project on the Eldorado and Stanislaus Forests is largely located in the Mokelumne River watershed. CalWild is concerned that the project will not fully protect segments of the North Fork Mokelumne the Forest Service determined eligible for National Wild and Scenic River protection, as we as the 37 miles of the river added to the state system in 2018.
Wildfire Risk Reduction Project – Located on the Los Padres National Forest, this project proposes vegetation removal on 90,796 acres of public lands, including 35 Inventoried Roadless Areas and segments of Sespe and Piru Creeks recommended by the agency for National Wild and Scenic River protection. In addition to potential impacts on these special areas, CalWild is concerned about project impacts on at risk fish and wildlife species.
CalWild typically works with non-profit environmental law firms to represent us on a pro-bono basis to challenge damaging projects in court. But the sheer volume of projects being proposed coupled with the Trump Administration’s attack on civic institutions has limited our ability to seek legal relief. To paraphrase the Warren Zevon lyric, we need more lawyers and money.
