Meetings
November 2015: The Chapter had its meeting in a restaurant in Sacramento. JoAnn Fites-Kaufman was our presenter. She discussed the recent research on wildfires. Her presentation shared experience in monitoring and research on the effectiveness of fuels treatments in changing fire behavior and effects. Dr. Fites-Kaufman shared her experience on the King Fire as a member of the Fire Behavior Assessment Team. 20 people attended this meeting from the Chapter membership and an interested private landowner.
December 2015 and January 2016: The Chapter did not hold meetings in December and January. Several Chapter members attended the joint Northern California and Southern California Societies Winter meeting in Santa Rosa. I represented the Chapter during the Executive Committee meeting. The 2016 Golden Members included Chapter members: Ronald Cunnington, William Knispek, Donald Perkins and Dale Wierman. Mr. Wierman was able to attend the winter meeting and was presented with recognition from SAF President Clark Seely.
February 18, 2016: This month’s meeting had Rich Wade as the guest speaker in a restaurant in Sacramento. Mr. Wade is a member of the Board of Forestry and he presented a summary of the history of the Board of Forestry, highlighted the duties of the Board and discussed current issues that the Board is dealing with. The meeting was attended by 21 people. Thanks to Joanne Drummond for bringing an Americorps Crew of 9 people to meeting. The Americorps crew members shared the projects they are working on and explained the goals of Americorps.
March 17, 2016: The March meeting featured Wildlife Biologist, Monica Bond. She has done research on high severity fires and the effects on wildlife. Ms. Bond’s presentation centered on the recent research that studied the effects of wildfire and post-fire logging on the spotted owl species and on black-backed woodpeckers. Her research indicates that there are benefits to the wildlife habitat from the high severity wildfires and asked for a paradigm shift for how foresters, the media and the public view large wildfires like the Rim Fire. 13 people attended this meeting.
April 21, 2016: Ken Pimlott, Chief of Cal Fire was the presenter. Ken had an informal conversation with the 10 members in attendance. Chief Pimlott gave an overview of the issues facing Cal Fire ranging from rebuilding Best Management Practices program, budget to financial resources from the Cap and Trade program. He described ways to leverage funding through partnerships with other agencies, local government and non-profit organizations. The ongoing drought and build-up of insect populations have created high hazard zones that require coordination with utilities, Cal Trans and local governments. Emergency coordination is an ongoing activity. Cal Fire is outreaching to Colorado and work done in southern California to learn the lessons from past actions to deal effectively with California’s current and developing situation with large areas of forest dying. Cal Fire has acquired 40 pieces of equipment to help start managing the dead trees.
Future Meetings
May 19, 2016: Sandy Derby will be our guest speaker to provide information about the status of Project Learning Tree. The meeting location will be at the Loomis Chinese Restaurant in Loomis. Keep an eye out for the upcoming email for the meeting announcement in the next few days.
We would like to see if there is interest in having a Chapter field trip in June. Please send suggestions to Jon Jue at jonora@sbcglobal.net. Some possible suggestions are a field trip at Sagehen Research Station near Truckee.
Other Activities
The Sacramento-Tahoe Chapter will continue efforts to advertise a scholarship for forestry or natural resource students attending Universities in California. Brian Barrette will be leading our Chapter’s scholarship program in 2016.
On July 21, 2016, the Chapter will be staffing the Forestry Center at the State Fair. Please reserve that date to help educate the public about forestry in California. A sign up notice will be coming out soon.
In August 14, 2016, the Chapter will be assisting in a forestry and logging exhibit at the Nevada County Fair. A sign up notice will be coming out soon.
