Good morning Aspen Creek!

For those of you that were able to attend the Zoom meeting on Thursday night, you probably already heard a little of this from Kathy Lewin. I talked to Nancy Platt yesterday and got some additional news I wanted to share.

As you know, the USFS and Cal OES/El Dorado County have been in negotiations about using the Debris Clean up program to clean up cabin lots. Unfortunately, it appears that a determination has been made that Cal OES cannot clean up forest service lots. However, the good news is that there has been some significant movement on the federal front. The US EPA and Army Corps of Engineers will be able to do our lot clean up starting very soon. There is some emergency wildfire relief money on the federal side that will help pay for the cleanup. Nancy did not know if the Feds, like OES, would be recouping their costs through the debris removal insurance money that some people have, nor did she know if we would incur costs from this clean up. However, she did say that this emergency funding should at the very least, reduce our costs, if there are any, significantly.

So what is next? Yesterday, the front desk of our local Forest Service Office was in the process of calling all permit holders who had lost cabins- I believe the count is now 143. They are confirming email addresses, mailing addresses, and contact info, They are also asking if there is an intent to rebuild. Please note that whatever you say is non-binding, but the USFS wants to get an idea of their upcoming workload. For now, our Permit program is still run by only Nancy Platt who had been working double digit hours every day since the fire happened.

Next week, certified letters will be going out to all permit holders. These letters will explain more about the cleanup process and what is involved. We are all hoping to have more information and Nancy advised that the people in DC at the highest levels are working on this (It seems to me that we are a pilot case and this is all new to everyone involved.) Nancy expressed that the local offices are as in much need of this info as we are and they are also waiting to hear how this program will be administered.

IMPORTANT! When you receive this letter, there will be instructions on what to do to opt into this program. Apparently there will be a very quick turn around. So as soon as you get the letter, please take action. There will also be instructions on if you want to OPT OUT of the cleanup. Again, I don’t have any of the details on this but I am sure there will be more to follow. Also, Nancy said that they may deliver the letter in a variety of ways- through standard mail, but they also may email and send tract leads the info. I can assure you that as soon as I get any updates I will share them here.

It sounds like the intent to begin the cleanup process is going to happen very quickly. Finally, this information is being shared by the other tract leads. I did get an email from Terry Dunlap in Bryant Creek yesterday. She shared the additional info that if the permit holder does not get a call from the USFS by Tuesday to leave a message on at 530-647-5354. If that voicemail is full, call 916-500-4712. She also mentioned that if your cabin was burned, you will not be getting a permit bill this year and will not be paying fees. More to follow on that!

Have a wonderful weekend Cabin neighbors! I will be headed up on Monday to winterize what is left of our water system and report back on any work being done in the tract