NEVADA COUNTY, Calif. April 13, 2026 – During Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services will request approval to submit a grant application to the National Forest Foundation (NFF) in the amount of $7 million for vegetation management on the Tahoe National Forest (TNF) on 2,735 acres, primarily along Forest Service roads.
The proposed projects are in line with addressing wildfire hazard in the area. Given the magnitude of the project compared to the 2024 GNA (117 acres) and the 2025 GNA (364 acres) closer examination than just an item on the consent calendar might be warranted.
The NFF grant would be paired with the 2026 Good Neighbor Agreement (GNA) between the County and the TNF. The GNA, once signed, also allows the County to conduct timber harvest on the TNF and hold timber sales. We inquired about the 2026 Good Neighbor Agreement document. The grant will inform the final version of the GNA, according to Nevada County. If awarded, both the grant and the GNA will be brought to the Board of Supervisors for approval at a later date.
Multiple projects
Besides fuel mitigation on Forest Service roads, the projects include a substantial portion of Hwy 20. We asked if coordination with Caltrans is contemplated and, according to Nevada County: “We are currently coordinating with Caltrans on a similar project along Highway 20 as part of the Lower Deer Creek – Penn Valley Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project and have submitted encroachment permits. This sub-project will follow a similar coordination model, ensuring that necessary planning, permitting and community outreach is complete prior to any on-the-ground implementation. Coordination with Caltrans will be part of the planning effort if OES receives approval to submit for the grant.“
The Bowman project along FS Road 18 includes a portion of the Bowman Tunnel, owned by NID. “USFS has been coordinating with NID around several mutually beneficial projects, including work near Bear Valley and Scotts Flat. If OES receives approval to submit the grant, we will kick off our engagement with NID and build on this coordination for the Bowman Project,” Nevada County stated.
No fire on the ground?
The grant would provide funding for “thinning of small diameter trees, removal of surface and ladder fuels, mechanical methods, manual methods, and targeted herbicide for invasives.”
There is no mention of prescribed fires or pile burning, which given the topography would be a cost-effective way to dispose of the slash created by the fuels management.
Once surface fuels are removed, using prescribed fire to treat the landscape would extend the efficacy of the treatment for a longer period of time and provide a way to dispose of the accumulated fuels on the ground.
Slash piles created by the timber harvest would equally benefit from pile burning.
The timber harvest portion of the agreement raises other questions as well. Mill capacity for timber harvests is an ongoing issue. Are there plans for disposal of slash in a biomass plant and is that even possible given the distance of the projects to any existing plants?
Nevada County’s answer to our questions about prescribed burns is forward-looking at best: “Prescribed fire and pile burning are part of the overall strategy but will be implemented by TNF following initial treatments as a maintenance tool. For example, under the current West County GNA, OES completed 364 acres of fuel mitigation that included building piles and cutting line so that TNF can come back when conditions are conducive to burn.” The exclusive reliance on the USFS’ capacity to treat these piles and initiate rx fires seems counterintuitive given the recent evolution of the Forest Service and their successful partnerships elsewhere.
As to the timber harvest and biomass aspect, “Like many other rural counties, we are trying to find a way to ‘pay the biomass out of the forest.’ A successful project means vegetation removal of 2,735 acres. Revenue generation is a secondary consideration to help fund additional vegetation work in other fire prone areas, as well as fund additional projects for watershed benefit, including vegetation management, road improvements and recreation management. The County is consulting with technical experts to help ensure that removed material has viable uses and to minimize the potential for accumulation on site.“
Limited partnership?
The Tahoe National Forest has similar projects underway with multiple partner agencies and organizations.
The North Yuba Sleighville project is a partnership project between the Tahoe National Forest, SYRCL, The Nature Conservancy, Yuba Water Agency, Camptonville Community Partnership, the Nevada City Nisenan Rancheria Tribe, the National Forest Foundation, Sierra County and the Blue Forest Conservation.
The Middle Truckee River Watershed Forest Partnership is a 10-year project with the National Forest Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Truckee Meadows Water Authority, Truckee River Watershed Council and Tahoe National Forest Truckee & Sierraville Ranger Districts.
The French Meadows Restoration Project is a partnership between Placer County, Tahoe National Forest, Placer County Water Agency and regional partners, including the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, American River Conservancy and U.C. Merced’s Sierra Nevada Research Institute.
In the proposed project, there are no partners listed other than Nevada County OES, the Tahoe and the NFF. Nevada County OES feels they have capacity for the project, stating: “Not all the GNA sub-projects would be initiated at once, so overall departmental workload would remain similar to years past in terms of overall acres treated. For example, work for the two prior GNAs and the CAL FIRE funded Woodpecker Ravine Phase 1 was completed in the same year (about 1,000 acres total in 2025). We will leverage contracts with vendors on our qualified list as needed.“
The Nevada County Board of Supervisors meeting starts on Tuesday at 9:00 am in the Board Chambers. Consent calendar approval is the first action item on the agenda. Details for the grant application approval item are here.
Background:
The TNF instructed the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to allocate $7,000,000.00 in USFS funds to their Directed Grant Program so that Nevada County OES may apply for these funds. The NFF is chartered by Congress to enhance and restore National Forests and Grasslands.
The request was made before the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) took a chainsaw to the United States Forest Service with an “organizational realignment” that moves the headquarters to Utah, closes all Regional Offices and closes most research and development facilities.
Region 5, the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service, used to manage 18 National Forests with 20 million acres of national forest land in California. In California alone, the Anderson, Fresno, Chico, Fort Bragg, Mt. Shasta and Hat Creek stations are being closed. The new State office will be in Placerville, combined with one research station. To date, no State Directors have been named or appointed. “Each State Office will include a small leadership team responsible for legislative affairs, communications, and intergovernmental coordination.” [source: USDA Forest Service Organizational Realignment fact sheet]