USFS tree cutting rules

Date: July 6, 2007

South Lake Tahoe CA. As a result of the Angora Fire, some residents
throughout the Tahoe Basin are cutting down trees on their properties. However, it has come to the attention of Tahoe Forest Service officials,that some cutting may be occurring on private, state or federal public lands adjacent to their homes. Residents are urged to be certain that trees need to be cut, and that they are not cutting on private lands belonging to others, on U.S. Forest Service lands or urban lots owned by the U.S. Forest Service, the California Tahoe Conservancy or other public lands.

It has been widely speculated that trees carried a crown fire which
ignited homes during the Angora fire. However, this was not the case. In fact, an on the ground review by fire and fuels experts showed that most of the burned homes in the Angora Fire burned when wind driven embers ignited combustible material on or adjacent to houses such as: wooden shingle roofs, wooden decks (especially where combustible material was stored under
the decks), pine needles on roofs or in gutters, wood stacked next to homes and fire brands reaching into attics through vents. Large trees were not the major fire spread factor in the neighborhoods. You can see where many of these trees are still standing and remain green or only scorched between
homes that were destroyed. In other cases trees ignited and “torched out” only after an adjacent structure caught fire and produced great amounts of radiant heat.

Cutting down these large trees does not produce any beneficial
“defensible space” and in fact will produce a large fuel load on the ground that now will have to be taken care of.

Private Citizens cutting trees on lands owned by the U.S. Forest
Service, California Tahoe Conservancy or State of Nevada land is illegal and punishable by fines or jail.

Residents wishing to improve defensible space around their homes are urged to contact their local fire protection district before engaging in any tree felling, to be certain they are not cutting on lands not in their ownership, and when necessary, have professionals conduct the work.

If you have questions about urban lots and the Forest Service Urban Lot Program, visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/ltbmu.


###