Stanislaus Landscape Project

Charting a New Course in Western Forest Resiliency

In 2021, the U.S. Forest Service announced the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and launched the 10 initial landscapes targeted with additional funding for fuels reduction work through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. Already underway with the Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape Project (SERAL), the Stanislaus National Forest was identified as one of  the 10 forests and the treatment area grew to more than 300,000 acres.

The ambitious plan by the U.S. Forest Service expanded in 2023 to include an additional 11 landscape, 21 in total, with a 10-year target of treating more than 20 million acres of National Forest lands and  30 million acres of lands held in other ownerships (state, private, other federal agencies).

Primarily focused along California’s Highway 108, the Stanislaus Landscape’s 305,000-acre planning area is a mix of federal, state, and private land with plans to treat up to 120,000 acres of national forest. Of the landscape total, nearly 127,000 acres within the landscape are privately held and project success hinges on all parties doing their part. (To learn more about our effort to treat private lands, please see our partners section).

“Our focus with this project is reducing the risk to communities, protecting critical infrastructure, increasing forest resiliency, and providing habitat for wildlife,” Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken said.

Project Maps and Presentations

Due to their level of detail, maps and presentations may take longer than expected to load.

What We Plan to Achieve and Protect

Outcomes include reduced fire risk to several foothill communities (Sonora, Columbia, Cedar Ridge, Twain Harte, Strawberry, Pinecrest, Long Barn); protection of power infrastructure (hydropower facilities and transmission and distribution lines); reduced risk to multiple communication sites and facilities both on private and public lands; and road improvements (to provide access for various treatments, as well as improved public recreation and access for emergency response).

The South and Middle Forks of the Stanislaus River are the primary water sources for Tuolumne County - 17 miles of the wooden flume delivery system runs through the project area -  and provide potable water for other municipalities throughout the Central Valley, as well. Additional outcomes include less risk to community infrastructure (beyond homes), including the watershed, water reservoirs (Pinecrest Lake, Lyons Lake) and the historic wooden flume (17 miles of which are within the landscape project area) that provides 90 percent of the water to the local area. These watersheds provides substantial water for agricultural uses and habitat for several species of conservation concern.

How We Will Do It

The Stanislaus Landscape Project aims to apply a full suite of needed treatments to restore forest resilience at a landscape scale. These treatments include mastication, biomass removal, machine piling for burning, hand piling for burning, hand thinning, timber harvest, hazard tree removal, prescribed fire, and fuel break construction and maintenance. Combined, these efforts will reduce hazardous fuels and create a landscape that can better withstand disturbances such as wildfire, insects, disease, and drought conditions, while also protecting local communities, providing for critical species habitat, and supporting forest use and recreational opportunities.

Within the Stanislaus Landscape, the Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape (SERAL) project uses emerging models to demonstrate how vegetation treatments will help wildland fire play its natural role within the fireshed, leading to greater ecosystem integrity and protection of collaboratively identified high-value resources and assets (communities, California Spotted Owl and other habitat, water systems, powerlines, roads, communication sites, and more). 

But more than just treatments on the landscape, resilience across our forest depends upon a resilient local economy. To that end we are working with our partners at Columbia College and industry groups to develop a work force  of the future that provides trained, local labor ready to step into good paying, local jobs. We’ve supported the creation of additional local industries through letters of support that will not only assist the Stanislaus National Forest in the removal of biomass created through our forest treatment efforts -- we regularly engage in conversations about upcoming projects and anticipated biomass availability -- but will provide good paying jobs for local residents. We continue to strengthening relationships with our partners and stakeholders in industry, concern groups and local government to increase our capacity and confront this challenge at the pace and scale that is required to affect the change we know is needed.

Moving Forward

Not willing to stay idle, the Stanislaus National Forest is looking to increase the size of the project with the Social and Ecological Resiliance Across the Landscape 2.0. We have formed an interdisciplinary team and are currently developing the Environmental Impact Statement. As of December 17, that team published the scoping documents and is currently seeking public comment.

“Building upon the tremendous collaborative planning and implementation of the first SERAL decisions, the SERAL 2.0 project incorporates lessons learned and truly brings us to a landscape scale,” said Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken. “These proactive hazardous fuels treatments will further reduce the wildfire risk to various communities, iconic recreation sites and critical infrastructure as well as improve habitat for a myriad of aquatic and terrestrial species.” 

The SERAL 2.0 project area spans approximately 162,000-acres and includes 118,282-acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands with portions on the Calaveras, Groveland, Mi-Wok, and Summit Ranger Districts. The project area is bordered by the Clavey River to the east and the Tuolumne River to the south. 

Information related to the proposed action and how and when to comment can be found on the project webpage at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=63557. Comments may be submitted electronically through the project website by clicking the “Comment/Object on Project” link located under “Get Connected”. Comments will be accepted for 30-days and must be received by 9 p.m. Pacific Time, Monday, December 18, 2023.  

If you prefer, written comments may also be submitted via mail to Stanislaus National Forest, Attn: SERAL, 19777 Greenley Road, Sonora, CA 95370.  

Partners

“We can’t do this alone and I would suggest we don’t want to do it alone even if we could.  By doing this as a collaboration we make better decisions, and we get to be more creative in how we take on work. We get to share in the successes and we’re going to have to lean on each other to get there.”  -- Jason Kuiken, Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor.

After more than a decade of collaboration with the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions collaborative, this landscape provides one of the richest environments for Shared Stewardship as demonstrated through joint support of project design, surveys, layout, and implementation of numerous projects. In addition, the Stanislaus initiated a Master Stewardship Agreement with Tuolumne County to increase funding capabilities as well as execute contracts more effectively allowing work on the ground to commence rapidly. While the project includes a number of stakeholders and partners the majority of the work flows through our four main partners: Tuolumne County, Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, Great Basin Institute and the Institute for Bird Populations.

This project leverages substantial grants from CAL FIRE, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as a partnership with the American Forest Foundation to expand planned treatments onto private lands. The forest is working with Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk to develop a Tribal Forest Protection Act (TFPA) component that will capitalize on existing agreements with the Tribe to support implementation

Additional Resources & Success Stories

• The Shift, A Story Map

  

  The Stanislaus National Forest is breaking free from century-old thinking about forest management that has contributed to a national wildfire crisis. Vegetation is building up from putting out all wildfires as quickly as possible. This big fuel load, along with trees dying from disease, insect damage, and hotter and drier conditions has resulted in larger and more dangerous wildfires. The immense size and severity of current-day wildfires overwhelms even the most seasoned firefighters.

  Launch StoryMap

• Many Hands Tippin' Torches

  

  Crews from across the Forest Service descended upon the Stanislaus National Forest during the month of May and June to participate in the spring Stanislaus Landscape Prescribed Burn - an RX supporting the Wildfire Crisis Strategy and piloting the Forest Service's new RX Implementation Strategy.

  Read More

• Western Forests Are at an Inflection Point

  

  Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken puts pen to paper and makes an impassioned, personal appeal for proactive forest management that returns fire to these fire-dependent ecosystems.

  Read More

• Protecting Water from Fire

  

  More than 150 years later, the 72 miles of open channels, wooden flumes, and pipes still exist — 16 miles of which snake through the Stanislaus National Forest, to flow into treatment plants operated by the Tuolumne Utilities District. This configuration serves as the primary source of drinking water for the more than 44,000 residents of Tuolumne County.

  Read More

• Protecting the Stanislaus Landscape

  

  The Forest Service and partners work to protect the Stanislaus Forest as part of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy

  Read More

External Resources

•  Prescribed burns can prevent wildfires. Here's why they don't get done more often

• Controlled Fires Cut Wildfire Risk by 60%, Study Shows

• Comparative Assessment of the Impacts of Prescribed Fire Versus Wildfire (CAIF): A Case Study in the Western U.S.

• 20-year study confirms prescribed burning, forest thinning reduce risks of catastrophic wildfire |