IS ROYAL GORGE LLC 'RAMBLING'  ON FIRE SAFETY?

Royal Gorge LLC has announced a "last chance ramble" which will include a talk on "general forestry issues of the Donner Summit area."  For those of us who've either been clearing our properties, or who have hired help to do so, it's reassuring to know that Royal Gorge LLC is at last becoming aware of the dangers facing us here at the Summit.

There had been lots of concern that Royal Gorge LLC was not fully engaged in the issue of fire safety. I'd heard from several sources, as early as last fall (2007) that Royal Gorge LLC would be undertaking the process of thinning out excess fuel build up on their lands. There was a collective sigh of relief, although it was tempered by fears they might somehow tie this overdue clearance in with their proposed development, as in wholesale clearing of areas where future ski runs were envisioned.

But all those plans in 2007 went nowhere. The story was that trees weren't selling for as much as had initially been expected, and so the clearing had, for one corporate reason or the other, been put on the back burner, if you'll pardon the expression.

Meanwhile, 2008 has been proving itself to be a bear of a fire year-- when one complex of fires finally gets extinguished, another, such as the Mariposa/Yosemite starts up, underscoring the necessity of doing all we can to prevent fires in our area.

Some questions for Royal Gorge LLC prior to their "last chance ramble:"

1. Are you backing, or is your lobbyist fighting AB2447, a fire safety bill that would basically require two exits in fire prone areas?  
2. Have you accepted the fact Placer County will require you to provide two exits, or do you hope to get around that by complaining to the Placer County Board of Supervisors?  
3. Are you actually going to get around thinning out all the excess fuel on your lands, particularly along roadways, or are you going to tie this in as one of the benefits that will come with your development?

Please, act as a responsible landowner, and thin out your forests now. Don't hold the safety of our community and watershed hostage to the ups and downs of your development plan. Show us that, in terms of fire safety, you're not just going to 'ramble in the woods' for publicity purposes.  Instead, please 'walk the walk' of a responsible landowner, and thin out your woods now.