HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES 2025-06 - Board Docusign Envelope ID: FBBBC9D1-81CA-4FE9-9FD8-72BB8929080B
Attachment 1
Public
Resolution No. 2025-06
Documenting Negative Impacts of Federal Cuts to Staffing and
Funding to Local Forest Health and Wildfire Mitigation
WHEREAS, the District has made significant investments in reducing the chances that our facilities cause a
catastrophic wildfire and mitigating the overall risks for wildfires.This includes adoption and implementation
of the District's SIB 901 Wildfire Mitigation Plan and considering wildfires in all aspects of design, operation,
and maintenance of the District's electric and water utilities; and
WHEREAS, the District has also invested significant funds to support these efforts including increasing the
vegetation management budget from —$350,000 in 2018 to over$2,000,000 today; and
WHEREAS, the District also owns almost 100 parcels within our service territory that are used for utility
operations. This also includes hundreds of acres of undeveloped land in our high alpine, forested
community; and
WHEREAS, the District has also made significant investments in creating defensible space at all of our
facilities and performing fuels reduction where needed. Most recently, the District participated in a public-
private partnership with adjacent landowners to secure a grant from Truckee Fire Protection District to
perform hundreds of acres of fuels reduction in Truckee's important Trout Creek area; and
WHEREAS, another component of forest health and wildfire mitigation is the role of emergency response
planning and funding. The District, in 2024 worked with local agencies and Nevada County to develop the
Nevada County Local Hazzard Mitigation Plan (LHMP); and
WHEREAS, the LHMP identifies local hazards and includes projects that would mitigate the risk. For the
District, wildfire is a top hazard and the District's annex includes potential projects, such as enhanced
electric overhead hardening, targeted wildfire mitigation projects on key evacuation routes, and adding
additional fire hydrants to our water system; and
WHEREAS, in 2025, the federal government has made significant cuts to federal funding and staffing that
will negative impact local forest health and wildfire mitigation; and
WHEREAS, one immediate consequence of the federal cuts is the paused review of the LHMP by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) resulting in the inability for the District to apply for any
federal hazard mitigation grant programs; and
WHEREAS, overall, the federal cuts impacting our surrounding federal forest and to local agencies doing
wildfire mitigation, put at risk numerous local partnerships working together to address forest health and
wildfire mitigation. With the federal cuts and pauses, many local efforts will continue. However, the
partnership with forest service lands is lost or at best, significantly minimized,and our community and region
are at an increased risk of wildfire being contiguous with Federal Forest Service land.; and
WHEREAS, There has been significant local concern regarding direct negative impacts to forest health and
wildfire mitigation due to the current cuts to federal staffing and funding. The Truckee community has made
Docusign Envelope ID: FBBBC9D1-81CA-4FE9-9FD8-72BB8929080B
significant investments in preventing catastrophic wildfires including the adoption of Measure T to fund
Truckee Fire Protection District's wildfire mitigation efforts, fuels reduction projects on private lands, and
working with our State and Federal partners on reducing fuels in the surrounding forests; and
WHEREAS, the Town of Truckee is leading an effort to formally document negative impacts to our
community due to the federal cuts and to share this with our elected federal representative in Congress.The
Town Council will consider resolutions at their March 11, 2025 council meeting and are encouraging local
public agency partners to do the same; and
WHEREAS, for the District, the negative impacts to local forest health and wildfire mitigation are of the
utmost concern; and
WHEREAS, Staff have prepared Resolution 2025-06 documenting the negative impacts of federal cuts to
staffing and funding to local forest health and wildfire mitigation. Staff are also recommending that the
resolution be provided to our elected federal representatives with a cover letter to be approved by the
District's Board president.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility
District as follows:
1. The District is documenting the negative impacts of federal cuts to staffing and funding to local forest
health and wildfire mitigation.
2. The adopted District resolution be provided to our elected federal representatives with a cover letter to
be approved by the District's Board President and Vice-President.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District at a meeting
held within the District on March 12, 2025 by the following roll call vote:
AYES: Murrell, Randall, Bender, Laliotis, Finn
NOES: none
ABSENT: none
TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT
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Christa Finn, President
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Martina Rochefort, District Clerk