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Supervisor Novasel recommending the Board authorize the Chair to sign a letter in support of the Pilliken Forest Health Project, a proposal to improve forest health, reduce insect infestations, and reconstruct and/or maintain system roads using a combination of treatments (thinning, fuel reduction, and prescribed burning) and road maintenance activities within the Pilliken plantations on the Placerville District of the Eldorado National Forest.
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The Pilliken Forest Health Project is located on the Placerville Ranger District within the South Fork American River Cohesive Strategy Area. The scope of this project includes areas designated under the 2014 Farm Bill to address insect and disease threats that impact forest health and increase the risk of wildland fire.
The Project would reduce the threat of insect infestation and improve forest health over an estimated 2,500 acres of national forest system land. In addition, the project would reconstruct or perform maintenance on approximately 52 miles of existing system roads. The road reconstruction would primarily consist of replacement of failed culverts, installation of graded dips or water bars to control road surface drainage, pothole repair, surface grading roadside brushing, and some road widening to accommodate log trucks.