WASHOE VALLEY, Nev. – Passersby on Eastlake Boulevard this past spring were treated to an array of fuels-reduction visuals.

Piles of brush were burned, a giant masticator ripped through dense plant growth and chippers ground the vegetation into ground cover at Washoe Lake State Park in order to improve the park’s plant biodiversity and density, create fuel breaks near adjacent properties and to allow easier access for emergency vehicles in the event a wildfire occurs at the park. (Click here to see a masticator in action.)

Crews with the Nevada Division of Forestry treated 12 acres of brush on the south side of Eastlake around the park headquarters. They treated another eight acres around the campground loops and equestrian area clearing brush from around trees, fire hydrants and sign posts.  The crews also burned three large slash piles that the park had accumulated in the past.

A total of 160 acres of brush was masticated, according to Paul Carmichael, fire protection officer with NDF.

“The prescription was 50-percent brush reduction in a mosaic pattern with a 200-foot width strip around the campground and along Eastlake Boulevard,” he said. “The mastication continued along Ormsby Lane and part of Lake Shore Drive.”

NDF fuel reduction projects are funded through multiple grants from the U.S. Forest Service.  The Washoe Valley project in particular was funded through the Emergency Supplemental Hazardous Fuels Reduction program, which was a one-time award.

This fall an additional 10 acres will be masticated between the NDF Eastlake Office and Washoe Nursery. The vegetation masticator will treat another 20 acres in the Scripps State Wildlife Management Area located on the back side of the NDF Eastlake Office and Nursery.

NDF was busy conducting a number of other fuels reduction projects in the area, in part to improve forest health. Among them were the following:

• On the Shackelton property behind the Chocolate Nugget in Washoe Valley, crews removed 50 trees for fuels reduction and the promotion of forest health. The trees were converted into firewood and the slash was chipped or made into burn piles.
• A module of four crew members chipped slash piles on the Newcomb property in the Virginia City Highlands. The crew also finished burning slash piles on various other private properties up in the Highlands.
• Seasonal firefighters assisted Eastern Sierra Camp Crews in burning 190 piles of brush at Fort Churchill State Park.