USFS fuels reduction project starts near Camp Richardson

The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit said it has begun work on the South Shore Fuel Reduction and Healthy Forest Restoration Project that will thin trees and brush on more than 10,000 acres of national forest system land from Cascade Lake to the Nevada state line.

Crews are working on Highway 89 near Camp Richardson and will move to the Osgood Swamp area near Nez Perce Drive and the area southeast of the Sierra Tract near Barbara Avenue in August or September.

“We have a limited operating season, so we’re not able to treat all 10,000 acres at once,” said Duncan Leao, forester, in a statement. “The units we chose give us the flexibility to move around the various areas of the project in order to get work done as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Overall thinning and follow-up fuels treatment including prescribed fire may take approximately eight years to complete.

The Camp Richardson area will be thinned by hand and machine while the Osgood Swamp area will be hand and mechanically thinned and the area off of the Sierra Tract will receive a combination of whole tree and cut-to-length mechanical treatments.

For public safety, there will be temporary forest closures, which will be posted on the USFS website. For detailed project information, including a map of treatment areas, go online.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report