As part of the Defensible Space Assistance program that is helping low-income seniors and physically disabled persons adhere to defensible space regulations, a hands-on wood chipper training—provided by Family Tree Resources—took place on Wednesday afternoon at the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians Reservation.
The event was part of the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council’s project to train a tribal crew in creating defensible space for the homes of 15 elders on the reservation that includes brush and tree trimming/thinning, raking of dead leaves and pine needles and chipping of removed vegetation.
This project has been a tremendous morale boost for the crew, allowing them to not only help their elders but also affording them an income.
Assemblyman Jim Wood was on hand for the event and said that the partnership between the Fire Safe Council and the Hopland Tribe is a perfect example of how the area can be made safer working within limited resources.
“It’s not easy for everyone to do the necessary work to fire harden their landscape, but programs like this and willing participants are critical to preventing the devastation wildfires have caused. We need to find more opportunities and resources for people to do similar work,” he said.
When the Fire Safe Council first received its chipper back in August, they inaugurated the event at the Hopland Reservation with training representatives demonstrating maintenance of the machine for tribal members.
With a grant in hand from PG&E (administered through the California Fire Safe Council) for the defensible space effort, the Fire Safe Council created an operating agreement to hire tribal members to do the work on the resrvation with the ultimate objective of hiring them to do fuel reduction work throughout the county.
About three weeks ago, they held a one-day, hands-on training with an arborist demonstrating proper pruning procedures—what to cut, what to leave, damage prevention and long-term consideration of the landscape.
The Tribal crew has since completed the work around the homes on the reservation, piling the brush and limbs into one location. On Wednesday the chipper was brought back for a second round of training, this time allowing the crew to go hands-on with this portable machine that reduces branches, twigs and leaves to mulch.
“We can now employ the crew for outside chipper work and have an arrangement with them to use the chipper for free when they schedule their own work and allowing them to build their own business,” says Cratty.
Tribal Roads Director Orville Elliot, who has been very involved in the project, says, “It’s always been my goal to put our people to work and pay them a good wage. This program does both of those. It’s even more gratifying that the work we are doing is so important and much needed in our community as well as throughout the County.”
With fuel reduction work in high demand, the grant accomplished the clearing of 50 homes countywide, with many more applicants than they can accommodate.
However, with plans underway for more grant funding and a fully trained crew from the Hopland Resrvation now ready to work with home defensible space clearing, Cratty is hopeful that the project will be able to serve many more homes before the next year’s fire season.
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November 22, 2020 at 09:30PM
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Defensible Space Assistance at the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians - Ukiah Daily Journal
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