Last weekend residents of the Shasta West Watershed (the Shasta and Centerville areas) took advantage of an opportunity to get rid of hazardous fuel material around their homes by bringing woody yard trimmings and storm downed material to the chipping site on Swasey Drive. This opportunity was offered at no cost to the community by Western Shasta Resource Conservation District (WSRCD).

WSRCD, through a grant from the National Park Service, and with cooperation from Shasta County Department of Public Works, had their chipper set up at the intersection of Swasey Drive and Gas House Hill Road on Saturday and Sunday February 28th and 29th. The material brought to the site by homeowners was chipped by WSRCD personnel and blown into a van hired from Justis Waste Recycling.

The brushy vegetation surrounding homes in the Shasta West area contributes to the very high fire hazard rating reported by California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The brush chipping program is offered to assist residents with their efforts to create defensible space around their dwellings. Defensible space is the creation of adequate space between structures and flammable vegetation. In areas rated very high fire hazard zones (this includes nearly all of the Shasta West watershed), the defensible space is 100 feet or the property line whichever is nearer.

46,620 pounds of wood chips were delivered to Wheelabrator in Anderson to be converted into electrical power. This benefits California's electrical power needs, and more important locally, these are 46,620 pounds of material that didn't get burned in the open and emit smoke into the air in the Redding Basin. Residents who participated in the program this weekend are to be congratulated.

The response was so great that the chip van was filled before all the people wanting to bring in their brush were able to do so. For those residents who were inconvenienced we apologize.

WSRCD will offer this no cost opportunity again on Saturday and Sunday, March 27th and 28th, at the same location on Swasey Drive. The hours will again be 9:00 A.M. until 4:00 P.M. both days. We will arrange to have two chip vans available for the weekend to process all the woody material. This will give residents of the Shasta West watershed the month of March to get their brush and storm downed woody material ready to bring in to the chipper. Residents are asked not to bring any brush or woody material to the site before 9:00 A.M. on either March 27th or 28th. Grass, stumps, vines, or raked material cannot be accepted. Anyone having questions are encouraged to call Jack Bramhall at WSRCD at 365-7332 X 213