Chelan County Holding Meeting On Wildfire Mitigation Project

Chelan County will be holding a community meeting later this month to inform residents in the Plain and Lake Wenatchee areas about a long-term project to reduce wildfire fuels in the surrounding forests.

"Part of the project goals include restoring watershed health and resiliency and improving wildlife habitat and watershed function for about 75,000 acres," explains Chelan County Commissioner Shon Smith. "It includes about 62,000 acres of (National) Forest Service lands. It'll be a great effort to work together with various agencies to reduce some of the fuels that are out there."

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Smith says the project will include a variety of work and is scheduled to take seven years to fully complete.

"The work will include commercial and non-commercial tree thinning and prescribed fire, along with some road construction and road decommissioning and the re-guiding of traffic up that way. The implementation of this will occur in phases through 2030, so it's a very long project."

The first phase of the project will get underway next month.

This month's meeting will be held on Thursday, April 25 from 5-8 p.m. at the Lake Wenatchee Recreation Club at 14400 Chiwawa Loop Road in Leavenworth.

The meeting will include an open house where residents can ask questions about the project, as well as a presentation outlining its details.