"Airport committee writing vegetation management plan"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Airport committee writing vegetation management plan
By CONNIE KORBEL
The Mendocino (CA) Beacon


There are over 500 acres on the Little River Airport property, and all of
them require some level of vegetation management. According to Tim Scully,
Little River Airport Advisory Committee chair, the Federal Aviation
Administration "has something to say about all 572 acres of the airport
[property]. The property is being studied by a knowledgeable committee of
locals who will prepare and present a final vegetation management report to
the county in the coming weeks.

"We need this for peace and harmony and the good of the airport," said
Scully.

Serving on the Vegetation Management Plan subcommittee of the Little River
Airport Advisory Committee are Eric Miller, Bill Heil, Linda Perkins, Pam
Huntley, Bob Morgan of the county transportation department, and Scully.

The subcommittee formed last month following a report from Greg Giusti, who
advised the committee that a vegetation plan, which he supported, should be
a stand-alone agreement, separate from the amendment to the non-timber
management plan for the county-owned airport property. Tom Peters, county
department of transportation, agreed that a vegetation plan could be
incorporated and made compatible and his department would assist the
committee with this.

Giusti is a county forestry advisor from University of California Davis
Cooperative Extension.

The amendment document focuses on issues the Board of Supervisors approved
to the non-timber management plan, and not a prescribed vegetation
management plan, which the airport committee wants. 

The amendment, requested by the California Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, is meant to reconcile the non-timber management plan with
Federal Aviation Administration requirements. It integrates the more complex
FAA rules and makes the plan compliant with regulations governing a flight
safety corridor.

FAA rules supersede all other management practices within the safety
corridor. The FAA periodically redefines the size and shape of height zones.
The county needs to adapt to these changes.

The rules require that vegetation growing adjacent to runways be maintained
to achieve specific height limitations to minimize risk to pilots entering
and exiting the runway. Airspace management plans call for specific
clearances to be maintained at both ends of runways, as well.

In an email to the committee, Scully outlined his concerns, suggestions and
opinions.

He wrote, "I believe a prescriptive plan is badly needed which sets rational
maximum intervals for operations in each sub-zone so the vegetation is
managed to the correct heights and is not neglected." 

Scully advised the committee that the infield and runway safety areas should
be mowed annually. The approach trapezoids need attention every few years,
with the time intervals being dependent on how far below the limits
vegetation is cut and also how quickly it regrows to the maximum limit.

He said the vegetation management methods need to be practical and take into
account the difficulties of accessing trees that may be surrounded by dense
undergrowth.

"There is no point in designing a plan that the county can't afford to
implement and that can't be accomplished safely," Scully wrote.

He further outlined the plan needs to be specific about what happens with
cut growth. What can be burned, left on the ground, or removed and how, with
cost and practicality in mind.

Other concerns are protecting water quality, maintaining drainage ditches,
measures to minimize erosion, and activities such as mowing methods and
intervals.

"In my opinion the language of the plan needs to be clear and unambiguous.
The plan should be reviewed by all stakeholders before approval," wrote
Scully. "There should be a defined process for future amendments and a
defined process for handling complaints." 

The subcommittee met on March 12 to discuss how it might create the plan by
focusing on zones one at a time, yet still address sub-zone areas that need
to be treated separately. The committee report notes that within a single
zone there are varied soil and plant types along with dry to wet conditions.
The number of zones and sub-zones is still unknown.

Issues that have been raised by the aviation community include scheduling
regular maintenance, compliance with FAA height limits, maintaining
drainage, erosion and dust controls, and avoiding attracting birds and other
wildlife that are hazardous to aircraft.

Issues raised by neighbors include preserving the pygmy ecosystem, ground
water contamination, sound control, adverse changes in wind patterns,
avoiding toxic herbicides and esthetic considerations.

What could be planted or encouraged to grow to help meet the vegetation
goals are also being considered.

The committee conducted a site visit of the airport property to see the
results of various treatments and current conditions.

Morgan showed the group brush piles where wood and slash had been stacked
together, which will now be separated to reduce fire hazard. Morgan
explained that the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, now known as
CALFIRE, requires fallen trees be cut up and wood separated from slash to
control bark beetle propagation. 

At the LRAAC meeting last Friday, Heil said that some of the property has
had nothing done since it was cut in the 1940s.

"It's a humongous project. In some ways, it's an ecological disaster [the
land]. What we're doing is making recommendations. It's very exciting to
me," said Heil.

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