By Kent Collard, Director

With so many large fires last year in California, we understand that there are heightened concerns around fire safety at camp. For the past twenty years we have been preparing ourselves and the ranch for the inevitability of a forest fire. That preparation has included fuels reduction treatments on hundreds of acres of our property. Initially, working with a Registered Professional Forester, we developed a forest management plan for the 425 acres of property that makes up the ranch. Our treatments have included clearing brush, establishing shaded fuel breaks, and improving roads and water sources for firefighter access. More recently, we have reintroduced proscribed fire back onto our land by intentionally burning 140 acres in fall/spring to make the forest more resilient and ‘firesafe’. We know from first-hand experience that this type of preparation and planning pays off. In both 2008 and 2015 we had lightning-caused fires on adjacent National Forest lands that burned to the edges of the Ranch property, but stopped once they reached our treatment areas.

Fortunately, the forest type and typography we have here in Trinity County does not lend itself as well to the fast moving fires that occur in the chaparral and grasslands found in other parts of the state. If a fire were to begin nearby and threaten the ranch, the large irrigated pastures we have provide ample safety zones where campers and staff could assemble. In fact, in past years the ranch has been used as a fire camp by the Forest Service to house and feed firefighters in part due to our preparations and the firesafe nature of our facility. Our experience has been that we can safely shelter here. The need to evacuate would be typically driven by poor air quality and would happen in a non-emergent fashion.

In terms of community preparedness, it is important to know that while our mailing address says ‘Hayfork’, the ranch is actually in the town of Hyampom, and that Hyampom is a Firewise Community. As a founding member of the Hyampom Fire Safe Council (HymFSC) and former Chairman of the Hyampom Community Services District (responsible for oversight of the Hyampom Volunteer Fire Department), I can say with confidence that fire is the dominant community concern. It was the HymFSC that developed the Hyampom Community Wildfire Protection Plan and fortunately individual landowners and the government agency responsible for land management (in this case the US Forest Service), have been relatively proactive with multiple completed and proposed fuels reduction projects. With ingress and egress a primary concern, many miles of roadside fuels treatments have been (and continue to be) implemented. Additionally, landscape scale projects, such as Hyampom Community Roads and Strategic Ridges project are in the pipeline.

I hope this information begins to address any concerns regarding the risk of wildfire at camp. It is an issue that we too are keenly aware of, that we take seriously, that we have prepared for, and that we fortunately/unfortunately have experience managing.