As the wildfire season rages, property owners in the Truckee Fire Protection District are getting ready to decide whether to adopt a 179-dollar-a-year to fund fuels removal. A special vote has been scheduled for August 31st. Nevada County Supervisors approved a resolution in support of Measure T, at their meeting on Tuesday. But it needs two-thirds approval and, based on a long series of public comments, that may be difficult to get. Many seemed to question why they should foot the bill for state mismanagement of the forests…

click to listen to Measure T opponent

But former Democratic State Senate candidate, Pamela Swartz, who tried, unsuccessfully, to unseat Republican Brian Dahle last year, stated her support to the Board. She agreed there’s been fire prevention mismanagement. But she said those concerns should be directed to the Federal government, since the State government owns only around two-percent of the forests…

click to listen to Pamela Swartz

Measure T would generate around three-point-seven million dollars a year. Roughly half the money would be used toward assisting property owners in disposing of larger fuels material, with the rest allocated toward treating areas and other mitigation tools. It would be in effect for eight years.