LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – In the months ahead work to thin trees will be taking place on the Mendocino National Forest.

Frank Aebly, the ranger for the forest's Upper Lake Ranger District, gave a report to the Board of Supervisors on the forest thinning plans on Tuesday.

Aebly said there is a certain amount of thinning forest staff has to do, and they can pursue it a variety of ways – through mechanical means, timber sales or prescribed burning.

This year, because of budget restrictions, mechanical thinning and timber sales won't be used, and instead the forest will be relying on burning, Aebly said.

“Given the situation that we had this summer,” he said, referring to the county's series of devastating wildland fires, “I felt it appropriate to come and talk with you and the public about the fact that we're going to be pursuing heavy burning this year.”

“I am a huge proponent of prescribed burns,” said Supervisor Jim Comstock.

Comstock grew up ranching and taking part in the burns, but he said in recent years they've been precluded from doing the burns. Unlike a prescribed burn, he said the Valley fire's impact on forest lands was destructive.

Supervisor Jim Steele said that some of the prescribed burn methods were actually developed in the Cobb area in the 1940s.

However, he said that all fell by the wayside over the years, allowing fuels to build up. He asked Aebly about how the burning would be done.

Aebly said the forest uses different types of burning. One method is pile burning. He said there are a lot of piles in the forest above Nice and Lucerne that resulted from a thinning program on a couple of hundred acres last summer.

Supervisor Rob Brown said he appreciated what was said about control burns. While such burns wouldn't have prevented the Valley fire, he said they could have stopped the fire from moving from Cobb to Middletown.

He cited Gov. Jerry Brown's recently declared state of emergency regarding the bark beetle infestation that has caused tree die-off across the state. He said he's bringing the matter to the board for a formal discussion at its Nov. 17 meeting, and asked Aebly if the forest was looking at that issue.

Aebly said the Covelo and Upper Lake districts aren't having a serious problem with the beetles.

However, on the east side of the forest – in the Grindstone Ranger District in Glenn and Colusa counties – there is a very large beetle problem, and there is a thinning and forest health project under way, Aebly said.

During the discussion with the board Aebly also noted that the forest has an overabundance of trees from 6 to 10 inches in diameter. Most purchasers are interested in trees between 14 and 36 inches in diameter, he said.

The smaller trees, he said, could be used in the pole or wood pellet industry, and the forest would work with an interested purchaser.

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