Good morning Aspen Creek Tract!

I’m writing to share notes from the Sciots Tract meeting on 6/24 and a recap with some info from last nights meeting. As an FYI, we are back on the summer meeting schedule and will have 7p zoom meetings on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month.

Update from the Northern Sierra Summer Homeowners Association meeting at Sciots tract:

There is a new email address for cabin owners to reach the USFS. The email box is being monitored by three people- here is the address: Sm.fs.pvl-rec-res@usda.gov. We were encouraged to email our current email address to them at that address.

There was a hiccup with burn permits- for some reason, CalFire is not issuing permits on behalf of the USFS. You have to get them from the USFS- however, all burning was suspended in El Dorado County a few weeks ago so the permit isnt really useful now. The USFS is working on getting delegation authority from the state.

Questions came up about permit reissuance- for all cabins in ENF, the permits expire 12/31/24. The USFS will be issuing temporary one or two year permits for people that want to rebuild.

Cabin and lot inspections will take place thru the summer- a group called the American conservation experience is helping USFS. They will be identifiable by clothing/vests.

There was a lot of talk about recovery- El dorado conservation District manager spoke and stated that it is a state priority to restore the land. Work is mostly done at Sierra at Tahoe but there will be Chinook helicopters removing hazard trees. The total cost was about $29million. Grizzy flats tree mediation is at $8million and they know the highway 50 corridor will also be expensive. They have applied for funding from the federal government to cover the costs of tree removal.

Hwy50 recovery is at the beginning- all USFS, private and county roads have been mapped. All roads that have trees that impact everything are being assessed. They will remove any fire killed tree or any tree that has a 10% chance of dying in 5 years. Currently, all timber being sent to Carson city. The USFS and contractors will be removing all affected trees 200 feet from the center line of any road. The project will go out to bid in the fall and they hope to have contractor(s) in place by later in the fall. They told us to expect it to look like what has happened along 50 under the powerlines. Stumps will be cut to 12″ and most of the material will be removed.

The USFS is having some challenges with PGE and removal. The USFS is working with PGE to ensure access to infrastructure like driveways and cabins,

Scot Rogers is in Arizona. Joe Stout is the forest supervisor overseeing the program and Linda Babcock is working under him. Linda is now the point of contact and has been working with the CCORP leadership group.

Other questions came up like whether or not we could being replanting (no) and questions that they said would be addressed in the FAQs being updated by the USFS. They also advised of increased bear activity and gave information on precautions.

Supervisors office in absence of Scot being here they are overseeing it. Joe stout will sign.

July 6 Update

We had a very informative meeting last night via zoom. I will ask Paul if there will be a recording/link to share as it is not yet available online.

Most importantly, the Determination letters for all but 33 cabins is being sent out via certified mail as of yesterday- they will require a signature. Aspen Creek Tract is completed so we should all be receiving letters. The letters will tell you if you are going to be allowed to rebuild, rebuild with modifications, or be offered an in lieu of lot.

For each of the determinations, there are specific FAQs- see the website below. Also, Rebuild guidelines are here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1119863.pdf

They did say that ICC codes would be used but did not know if the county would be reviewing the plans. Once you receive your letter, they encouraged us to send in a conceptual design for approval before you attempt to draw up plans. Also, if you are offered an in lieu of lot, it will be via lottery and you only have one opportunity to accept a lot.

There is a ton of information on the updated USFS website. They will be releasing all of the decisions via their website on July 11th.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/eldorado/home/?cid=fseprd952172

Lastly, I am attaching the slides from last night- they are very informative:

That’s all the information I have now, but I wanted to share. Please let me know if I can answer any questions.