Received this from Nancy last night- I posted this under the “Letter from Nancy Platt” tab

Hello Recreation Residence Permit Holders,

 

Starting off, I want to give accolades to your Tract Contacts who have made these communications with you all possible.  With their assistance, the count of cabins lost on the Eldorado National Forest to the Caldor Fire is confirmed at 143.  In addition sadly, was the loss of Our Lady of the Sierra Church on the north side of Highway 50 across from Camp Sacramento, which was also under a Forest Service special use permit.

 

Lot cleanup and next steps are naturally on everyone’s mind.  Nothing is simple though, when there are many government agencies to coordinate with, and many laws to comply with, including those regarding hazardous waste.

 

The Forest Service continues to work diligently with federal, state and local officials regarding the cleanup process, specific to cabin permit holders.  More information is expected very soon and will be shared when it becomes available on the Caldor Fire Recovery page on the Eldorado National Forest (ENF) website at https://www.fs.usda.gov/eldorado/  Click the Caldor Fire Recovery page link, found under “Features” as you scroll down to the bottom half of the home screen.  Scroll down the Caldor Fire Recovery page to “Topics”.  Especially recommended are the FAQs.

 

When visiting the ENF website I encourage everyone to continue to follow what is going on with the Caldor Fire https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7801/  Over 1000 firefighters are still out there putting out hot spots and doing fire suppression repair.  The Burned Area Emergency Restoration (BAER) team is hard at work as well  https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/article/7842/66356/   The 10/1/2021 press release about what Forest Supervisor Jeff Marsolais expects for the future of the Caldor Fire Closure area may also be of interest.  https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/eldorado/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD957759

  

As a reminder, your cabin operation & maintenance plan (part of your special use permit) requires you to obtain written permission from the Forest Service prior to maintenance/repairs including Caldor Fire lot cleanup (see your O&M plan, top of page 2).  Many are asking if they should complete the El Dorado County Right of Entry (ROE) form allowing Cal OES to do cleanup on their lot.  There is no need for cabin permit holders to complete the Right of Entry form.  By law the Cal OES cleanup program is specific to private property owners who have primary residences destroyed by the Caldor Fire.  Recreation residences are secondary (vacation) homes and special use permit holders are renters on federal land (not land owners) and do not qualify for this state program.  As previously mentioned, the Forest Service continues to work diligently with federal, state and local officials regarding the cleanup process specific to cabin permit holders. 

 

Forest Service written permission is also required prior to doing erosion control work on National Forest lands.  The BAER teams identify immediate needs down to details such as the specific type of straw wattles to be used.  For example, some kinds of wattles have plastic mesh that can actually be harmful to wildlife!  The BAER teams are out every day addressing immediate needs. (See the link above to learn more about BAER)  Separate fire suppression repair teams are also mitigating erosion potential by repairing and restoring dozer lines and associated fire suppression lines, staging areas, etc. Their work is about 50% done. 

 

The best way cabin permit holders can help is to stay informed with information from the Eldorado National Forest website while waiting for instructions on lot cleanup:  https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/eldorado/home/?cid=FSEPRD952172  Scroll down to the “Topics” section and click the button of interest.

 

Check with your tract contact or call the Rec Residence phone 530-647-5354 (listed at the top of your cabin O&M Plan face page) if you have a question. 

 

Rest assured, the Forest Service is working hard to set the stage for lot cleanup to go efficiently and be done properly.  We too are anxious to get started, so stay tuned!

 

Forest Service Shield

Nancy Platt
Recreation Special Uses

Forest Service

Eldorado National Forest

Placerville Ranger District

p: 530-647-5354
nancy.platt@usda.gov

4260 Eight Mile Road
Camino, CA 95709
www.fs.fed.us
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