Please read the official Tahoe National Forest press release on active projects here.

Work to improve forest health and reduce the risk of wildfire in the North Yuba River watershed is ongoing as part of efforts by the North Yuba Forest Partnership. Project work may potentially impact access to popular recreation locations and Forest Service lands within the Tahoe National Forest area near Camptonville, Downieville and surrounding communities. For public safety, access may be restricted to Forest Service roads, trails and lands as contractors engage in active implementation this field season.

The public should expect an increase in log trucks on the highway and roads designated as haul routes (see map). In addition, the public is encouraged to avoid project areas due to mechanical vegetation management work, which includes the use of heavy equipment, movement of haul trucks, tree-falling operations, mastication and piling. Log trucks and equipment may be present seven days a week at any time. 

The following vegetation management projects will be active as weather permits, starting in late May through the end of the year:

• Downieville: 3,350 acres east of downtown Downieville north of Hwy 49. Hand falling will begin August. 
• Downieville Ridgetop Fuel Break: Development of an approximately 460-acre fuel break north of downtown Downieville and north of Hwy 49. Heavy equipment will be moving in and out of the project area along Lavezzola and Saddleback Roads.
  • Phase 0: In the summer of 2025, NFF worked with Forest Service fuels staff to fast track a strategic ridgeline fuel break project near Downieville. Starting in October, a combination of 279 acres of handwork and mastication were implemented along steep ridgelines in just under 3 months. Work will resume and is planned for completion in the 2026 field season on the 178 remaining acres. Work includes tethered mastication operations along slopes >50%, likely the first of these operations taking place in the state of California.
  • Phase 1: Additional handwork fuel reduction units across 525 acres are planned for advertisement and implementation in the 2026 field season. Work will help lessen the risk of severe wildfire, as well as focus on WUI defense and promoting safer ingress/egress for the area.
  • Phase 2: Commercial thinning and additional fuel reduction units across 434 acres are in the final stages of prep/layout. Phase 2 will promote forest health and aid the wildfire mitigation goals of the previous phases. Many of the planned units will likely require technical helicopter operations due to the steep landscape, with some units planned for tractor operations as well. The NFF anticipates advertisement and selection of an implementation contractor this fall
• Eureka: Treatment of approximately 1,300 acres northwest of Downieville. There are no road closures in the area, but operations may impact travel along Forest Service Road 25-23 and 25. Implementation is anticipated to begin in July and will run through the following field season approximately 6 miles north of Goodyears Bar.
• Gauntlet: Treatment of approximately 1,373 acres northeast of Alleghany and adjacent to Forest City. Expect heavy equipment and log trucks on Ridge Road and Henness Pass Road. There will be trail closures on portions of Truckee Ditch, Sandusky and Mexican Mine trails within the project area. View the forest closure order here.
• Graveyard: Treatment of approximately 2,032 acres along Henness Pass Road east of Camptonville and west of Forest City. Expect heavy equipment and log trucks along Henness Pass Road between Camptonville and Mountain House. Work will include steep slope operations, biomass chipping and hauling, and hand cut/hand pile fuel reduction. Log trucks will be traveling through Camptonville on Mill Street. Monday through Friday. The Graveyard Project is 80% complete, about 300 acres remain to be completed on the project.
• Greene Acres: Fuels reduction work planned on approximately 1,200 acres just south of Bassetts and Hwy 49. Forest Service lands, roads and trails will not be closed to the public during project implementation. 
• New Bullards: Fuels reduction work planned on approximately 76 acres spread out along multiple tracts of forest service land. Treatment areas are spread in the Camptonville area west of Hwy 49. There are no planned traffic disruptions, but heavy equipment and trucks can be expected along Pendola Extension Road. Mastication along Pendola Extension will occur as weather permits. The New Bullards Bar project is 82% complete and is estimated to be complete by end 2026.
• Packer Salmon: Meadow and aspen restoration work, including timber removal planned on approximately 263 acres northwest of Bassetts nestled between Packer Lake Road and Gold Lake Road. There are no planned traffic interruptions, but trucks and machinery should be expected traveling in and out of the project area.
• Sleighville: Timber and fuels reduction work planned on approximately 3,965 acres south of Hwy 49 and north of Pliocene Ridge Road. This project includes helicopter operations east of Camptonville through July 2026. Expect heavy equipment and log trucks along Henness Pass Road and route 34 (Joubert’s Road). Helicopter operations will be occurring through July 2026 east of the town of Camptonville. Other operations include ground based commercial thinning, small diameter fuel reduction, and biomass chipping and hauling. Log trucks will be traveling through Camptonville on Mill Street. Monday through Friday.  The Sleighville Project is 55% complete, about 1,500 acres remain to be completed on the project.

Formed in 2019, the North Yuba Forest Partnership (NYFP) is comprised of nine organizations passionate about forest health and restoring resilience to the North Yuba River Watershed. The NYFP partners – Blue Forest, Camptonville Community Partnership, the National Forest Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe, Sierra County, the South Yuba River Citizens League, the Tahoe National Forest, and Yuba Water Agency—banded together to collaboratively plan, fundraise for, implement, and monitor forest restoration and wildfire resilience work across the forests of the North Yuba.

Photos below are from the recent NYFP monitoring field tour in the North Yuba — photos by Alex Boesch from Yuba Water Agency