Forest thinning program benefits Lode counties

By The Record
December 26, 2012 12:00 AM

SAN ANDREAS – An innovative forestry project thinned 678 acres of fire-prone forests in Calaveras and Amador counties in 2012 and also created dozens of jobs, according to a national report released last week.

The report by the Collaborative Forest Restoration Program reviews the performance of 23 projects in national forests across the United States. Congress created the Forest Restoration Program in 2009 to encourage science-based forest restoration efforts.

In 2012, the federal government spent $40 million on the Forest Restoration Program, including more than $1 million spent on the Cornerstone Project in Calaveras and Amador Counties. Coca Cola Corporation also chipped in $196,000 toward the restoration work here.

The Cornerstone Project in the last year did more than just thinning fire-prone forest areas. According to the report, the Cornerstone Project also fought noxious weeds, improved vegetation and rangeland on more than 1,500 acres, restored or improved 4.2 miles of stream habitat, and employed almost 50 people either directly or indirectly.
See the report online at: www.fs.fed.us/restoration/CFLR