Increasing Wildfire Resiliency
The US Forest Service (USFS) has monitored fire starts in the Eel River headwaters since President Theodore Roosevelt established the Mendocino National Forest in 1907. Agency fire records list dozens of human- and lightning-ignited fires in the region over these 118 years. Mitigating fire risk must be an essential part of PG&E’s dam decommissioning plans.
Immediately actionable
Develop a fire management plan
In 2021, PG&E provided funding to the USFS to prepare the Mendocino National Forest Prescribed Fire and Fuels Management Strategy Environmental Assessment(EA) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Mendocino National Forest approved the EA on April 25, 2024 (please see https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=59722). We recommend that PG&E again work with the USFS to fund the completion and implementation of a fire management plan specific to the dam removal proposal should it go forward.
Develop alternative emergency water sources
The community vision recommends that PG&E fund the development of a pond or another new source of water that is large and deep enough and with sufficient clearance to allow heavy-lift helicopters to draw water during fires. Lake Pillsbury currently serves this purpose. With climate change and Lake Pillsbury’s depth fluctuations in drought years, the alternative water source would be beneficial even if Scott Dam is not removed. As we note below under recreation, this replacement emergency water source should also serve as a community hub and economic draw by offering such recreational opportunities as swimming, fishing, picnicking, wildlife viewing, and other activities.
Improve critical evacuation routes
The best evacuation routes from the Lake Pillsbury area include Mendocino County Road 240/Lake County Road 301 that connects Lake Pillsbury to Potter Valley and the Elk Mountain Road (USFS Road M1/Lake County Road 301) that connects Lake Pillsbury to Upper Lake. These roads are currently in poor condition despite serving as the primary ingress and egress routes to Lake Pillsbury. If dam removals do occur, we ask that the USFS and Lake and Mendocino Counties explore the feasibility and advisability of realigning existing roads to create more direct escape routes.
Longer term
- Improve emergency communications given the lack of cellular service in the Lake Pillsbury area and the potential loss of American Telephone and Telegraph’s current landline under the reservoir. Hull Mountain north of Lake Pillsbury or Big Signal Peak to the west could potentially serve as cellular antennae sites after appropriate Tribal consultation and environmental review by the USFS. Participants also recommended that PG&E explore ways to create backup communication methods using satellite-based phone networks.
- Use vegetation treatments, home hardening and other structural improvements, and other methods to improve the fire resilience of developed areas in the Lake Pillsbury basin. Fire mitigation in this wildland urban interface is a very high priority. Secure equipment and resources such as graders, masticators, chippers, and removal equipment.
- Increase the pace and scale of “good fire” use in the Eel River headwaters, including both prescribed fire and Tribal cultural burns, as per the MNF’s existing fire plans and its work with the Firescape Mendocino collaborative effort. PG&E should support the USFS’ efforts to train Tribal members as burn bosses.
- Identify potential locations for fire cameras and other technologies designed to provide an advance warning of fires that may, or have, entered the Eel River headwaters. Lake Pillsbury Fire District and the USFS should be asked to provide priority locations for cameras and cost estimates for their installation.
- Ensure that the footprints of the two reservoirs are not dominated by highly flammable invasive vegetation such as cheatgrass or yellow star thistle.
- Increase water storage capacity at the USFS’ Soda Creek Fire Station.
- Harden water drafting sites for ground-based (as opposed to helicopter) fire management needs.
- Establish an improved interagency emergency alert system that can warn residents and visitors of impending fire threats and evacuation orders.
- Increase staffing for USFS fire crews and dedicated funding for Tribes and partners like the California Conservation Corps and Lake County RCD who can perform fuel treatments, particularly during the offseason.
- Deepen wells for private landowners.
- Install dry hydrants and staging points along the Eel River for fire crews.
- Reconcile water rights to allow for additional surface water storage.
- Incentivize landowners to build and maintain storage ponds and access to them.
- Train Tribal members to serve as wildfire response crews and remove barriers to increased Tribal leadership and engagement in fire management.
