Forestry Services
RCI’s foresters develop silvicultural prescriptions and vegetation management plans, provide tree health assessments, and coordinate and permit forest-related projects.
Tahoe Basin Forest Permit Assistance
RCI foresters provide tree health assessments on both residential and commercial properties within the Lake Tahoe Basin, and provides assistance with forest-related Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), US Forest Service, Nevada Division of Forestry, and California Division of Forestry permitting processes.
Edgewood Golf Course Forest Health Maintenance
RCI foresters coordinated permitting, marked, and oversaw the implementation of thinning activities on 21 acres of forested land at Edgewood Golf Course. These activities are part of Edgewood’s ongoing forest health maintenance program for the golf course’s 97 acres of forested land.
Friday’s Station Hazardous Fuels Reduction Plan
RCI coordinated a cost-share agreement between the property owner and the Nevada Fire Safe Council to plan, coordinate, and oversee the implementation of forest fuels reduction activities on 105 acres of a 242-acre private parcel adjacent to the Chimney Rock neighborhood of Stateline, Nevada.
RCI’s foresters developed silvicultural prescriptions and marked the treatment areas for a vegetation management plan approved by the TRPA, the Nevada Division of Forestry, and the Tahoe Douglas Fire Protection District.
Thirty-two acres of fuels within the Edgewood Creek stream environment zone (SEZ) were treated by hand crews with chainsaws and 73 acres of upland forest were treated with a cut-to-length harvester and a masticator.
The principal goal of this project was to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire by creating shaded fuel breaks at the interface between the forested property and adjacent residential and commercial properties, as well as to protect domestic water treatment and delivery infrastructure and historic structures within the project area.
Forest fuel volume reduction targeted both live and dead material, with a focus on shrubs; ladder fuels; and crowded, dying, or dead tree canopies to create a more fire-resistant forest structure in both SEZ and upland forest types. A reduction in mistletoe incidence and the improvement of stand health are secondary benefits of this project’s activities.