Maintaining Your Land

California adopts emergency regulation for removing dead and dying trees

June 24, 2015

The California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has adopted an emergency regulation for removal of dead and dying trees. The emergency regulation will allow individual landowners or professional foresters to apply for an exemption to cut dead and dying trees of any size without the typical timber harvest plan, submission requirements, and completion and stocking report requirements. […]

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Federal Assistance for Biomass is Back

June 16, 2015

Release No. 0159.15 Contact: Isabel Benemelis (202)720-7809 USDA Announces Restart of Biomass Crop Assistance Program for Renewable Energy WASHINGTON, June 1, 2015 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced that incentives will resume this summer for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners interested in growing and harvesting biomass for renewable energy. The support comes […]

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Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District Public Hearing June 17 for Proposed Smoke Management Permit Fee

June 7, 2015

There will be a public hearing prior to rule adoption for the Smoke Management Permit Fee Rule 311 on: June 17, 2015 – 1:30 P.M. Location: 24580 Silver Cloud Court, 3rd Floor, Monterey, California The proposed fee structure is: Fee Category                             […]

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SRA Fees Update: the lawsuit continues while the money funds a grant program 

November 3, 2014

The legislative session is over for 2014, but litigation continues on the validity of the State Responsibility Area “fire prevention fees”.  The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) reports that their suit to overturn the fee is being stalled by the state, which is filing “demurrers”, which are requests to dismiss the suit based on legal or […]

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Upcoming Events

October 16, 2014

The calendar now has three new events: Monterey Air Board Prescribed Burn Workshop – October 22, 2014 10:30 am to 1:00 pm Air District Office 24580 Silver Cloud Court Monterey, CA 93940 Exotic Phytophthora Sepcies in Native Plant Nurseries, Restoration Plantings and Wildlands – December 2, 2014 8:30 am-4:30 pm Location: Log Cabin, 1299 Storey Ave, […]

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Micromanaging water – Who doesn’t get it

August 12, 2014

We reported in our last newsletter about how the EPA is trying, once again, to extend its authority over ALL of the waters of the United States.  They’ve been slapped down multiple times by the Supreme Court, the Legislature has been unsupportive, but their quest continues. Rural industries across the country have been protesting these […]

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Wildfire hazard mitigation – Who doesn’t get it

August 12, 2014

The Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District recently released a letter proposing “cost recovery fees” for burn permits. Burning is one of the most cost-effective and efficient methods of reducing overgrown vegetation and is also environmentally friendly.  Many of our native species depend on fire to germinate seeds and stimulate growth.  It can also […]

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Vegetation and Ground Water – a Two-Way Relationship

January 13, 2014

It’s another perfect day in Paradise; a sunny day with mild temperatures that allow me to work outside in shorts and a T-shirt.  The only problem with this is that it’s January, and we’ve been experiencing weather akin to mid October when we should be collecting our allotment of rain for the year. As I […]

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Rim Fire tests effectiveness of fuel treatment projects

October 8, 2013

The Forest Service has released a preliminary report assessing the effectiveness of several fuel treatment projects that were performed to reduce fire hazard in the Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.  In the aftermath of the Rim Fire, which burned through 250,000 acres of the Stanislaus National Forest in August, 2013, data was collected […]

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Introduction to Prescribed Fire

August 23, 2013

                   There are many tools in the forest manager’s toolkit.  One of the most ancient is fire.  From the time the first Native Americans arrived in the Americas, they employed fire to improve their environment, enhancing the growth of plants used for food and tools and improving […]

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