Bill Coates

Michael Jackson

Tom Nelson

Bob Baiocchi

Bill Banka

Susan Baremore

Linda Blum

Rose Comstock

Michael De Lasaux

Fed Duchi

Lenny Gallegos

Michael Goodner

Tom Gregory

Paul Harris

Bill Howe

Don Huston

Michael Kossow

Robert Meacher

Ed Murphy

Claud Neely

Randy Pew

John Redd

Wally Roney

Steve Self

Mark Shaffer

Frank Stewart

Mike Yost

Lenard Atencio,Supervisor Lassen National Forest
Mark Madrid, Supervisor Plumas National Forest
Steve Bishop, Ranger Sierraville RD, Tahoe National Forest

Re: $1,000,000.00

   The Quincy Library Group (QLG) has received your 1/12/95 prospectus on how to spend the $1,000,000.00 allocated by the National Office for activities not inconsistent with e QLG proposal. We have communicated our thoughts and reactions verbally at many meetings, but realized amore formal response might be useful.

   We are in general support of the proposed project and undertakings, We thing they seem to be headed in the right direction and recognize the need to move forward with projects that wee ready or nearly ready but lacked funding. We wish to stay in close contact concerning outputs from the specific projects as they evolve this year. One aspect we will focus on is outputs in the SSTS program. While some of the proposed projects could be sold under this program no specific mention of it is made.

   We have some specific concerns with two types of proposed projects. The first deals with 4 proposed underburning projects on the Plumas, projected to cost $168,000.00. We feel these projects are necessary and do align with goals of the QLG, but could be funded better by allocation of the increased regional appropriation of Natural Fuels Management funds that we helped lobby for.

   We feel that it is more important to begin to treat the fuel loading problem on a larger scale and because of the magnitude of the problem such treatment must be conducted strategically. We therefore suggest that this $168,000 should be devoted to expand the Strategic Fuel Plan work, currently being developed by the forests in the QLG area, into a "Sustainable & Strategic Fuelbreak Program" that incorporates NEPA/NFMA and economic issues. Specifically we would like to see a major portion of these funds go to contract the development of such a document. This effort would use as its core the work already being done by your people, but expanding on it to determine the best way to economically build the necessary fuelbreak system, or at least cost effectively include its construction along with linear timber sales to reduce any required subsidy.

   The second area of concern is the use of money from this $1,000,000.00 allocation to complete brush disposal on existing timber stales. We think that such work must and should be paid for by the Brush Disposal and KV funds which have been collected to do this work. Specifically our concerns are the proposed work on "Bear" and "Mr. Wilson" timber sales.

Sincerely,

Edward Murphy & Linda Blum - Correspondence Secretaries

cc: Lynn Sprague, Regional Forester
Jim Lawrence, Deputy Regional Forester