Zane Peterson Shasta County forester
We are currently salvage logging in the northern part of the state in Plumas, Lassen and Shasta counties. This year we haven’t experienced as big of wildfires. During the last few years, most of the areas that we work in have burned. The fact that we got a little break from fires this year is definitely encouraging. We’re not out of the woods yet with fire sea- son, but we hope that it stays off and we can make it through this year without burning trees up. The last two years have been very heavily intense on salvage logging and getting the burnt trees removed and to the sawmills. It’s been very challenging. A lot of those fires are getting cleaned up on private land. We’re getting baby trees planted, and they’re growing again, so that’s encouraging to see some new life in a black burn scar. We’re cutting the trees with feller bunchers. It’s a machine that can cut a tree off and place it where we want it to go. Then we grab them with grapple skidders and drag them to the landing, a centralized location. At that point, we process them to length with a machine we call the processor. It strips all the limbs off and cuts them to a desired length for the sawmill. Then we load them onto log trucks. The market is pretty soft for raw logs right now because of the glut of burned material on the market. That’s one reason we’re encouraged that we didn’t burn up a lot of acres this year. The market might come back up, and there might be some opportunity to sell some logs. Federal lands are still behind (on salvage logging) and not quite getting things done as quick as they need to. It’s because of NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act). Their process to be able to harvest trees is more strenuous than the process to harvest trees on private land in an emergency situation in California.
Photo/Courtesy of Zane Peterson
The Produce Safety Rule is Here; ARE YOU READY?
Farm Employers Labor Service (FELS), an a liated company of the California Farm Bureau (CAFB), has partnered with the Safe Food Alliance through a California Department of Food and Agriculture grant contract, as their designated training provider for Central and Southern California, to conduct the required Produce Safety training for growers. ALL TRAININGS BEGIN AT 8 AM September 7, 15 and 21:
Saving Farms Saving Profits Saving Futures
California Farm Bureau Harvest Room 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento October 5: Glenn County Farm Bureau 831 5th Street, Orland November 15: Yolo County Farm Bureau 69 West Kentucky Ave., Woodland
Most farms are required to have at least one designated supervisor who has been trained in accordance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety rule. Upon completion of the course, attendees will receive an o cial certi cate from the Association of Food & Drug O cials.
CHAPTER 12
Imagine a Better Future | Restore Your Farming Legacy Eliminate debt. Stop foreclosure. Stop repossessions. Cancel bad vendor and packing house contracts. Sell farmland with little to no capital gains tax.
The Food Safety Training Partnership is offering these training courses throughout California. You can find more information and register at foodsafetytrainingpartnership.com, or call 916-561-5672. Supported by California Department of Food and Agriculture
Free Consultation | 760.884.4444 | www.JDL.law
November 2, 2022 Ag Alert 5
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