Plumas Underburn Cooperative

What is PUC?

Citizens helping citizens to promote healthy, resilient forests and communities through the use of fire.

The Plumas Underburn Cooperative is the prescribed burn association (PBA) for Plumas County, California. PBAs are “community-based mutual aid networks” where individual community members volunteer their time help each other plan, prep, and burn their land. We share tools, trucks, and knowledge in order to accomplish our goal: making Plumas County resilient to wildfire and restoring forest health in the process. PUC was started in early 2019 to assist private landowners with burning and to provide resources to the Plumas County community. Since 2019 PUC has assisted both private and public landowners with an average of 11 days of burning per year and helps coordinate Plumas Cal-TREX, Basic 32 classes, and other outreach events every year.

PUC is organized by the Plumas County Fire Safe Council (PCFSC) and Feather River Resource Conservation District (FRRCD). PCFSC is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving the community of Plumas County by offering wildfire resilience-related services such as a Hazardous Fuel Reduction Program, Senior and Disabled Assistance Program, Chipping Program, and the Fire Safe Home Visits Program. PCFSC employs one full-time employee, the Project Manager, to organize PUC, though many PCFSC employees are regularly involved with PUC meetings, events, and burns. FRRCD is a local public agency and special district that provides assistance to farmers, ranchers, foresters, and other landowners with techniques to manage the natural resources on their properties, as well as up-to-date scientific and technical information.

PUC functions in a complimentary fashion to other Fire Safe Council and Resource Conservation District programs in the County, with fire often being the final step in a fuels reduction treatment.

Have other questions?

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Meet the Coordinators

Logan Krahenbuhl, PCFSC PUC Project Manager

Coming from a habitat restoration, prescribed fire, and fire suppression background, Logan joined the Plumas County Fire Safe Council in October 2022. He has a B.A. in Physical and Environmental Geography from California State University, Chico, as well as minors in Sustainability Studies and Environmental Studies. He is the first full time prescribed burn association coordinator in the state and is excited to work with community and agency partners in order to restore forest health, improve native species habitat, and protect the communities of Plumas County from wildfire.

Email Logan

Matt West, PCFSC Public Lands Project Manager

Matt was hired by the Plumas County Fire Safe Council in April of 2019. Matt received his Bachelors of Science in Biology with a concentration in ecology from San Francisco State University. Prior to the Fire Safe Council, he worked for the Forest Service for 5 seasons as a Wildlife Biological Technician where he has helped oversee hazardous fuels reductions in over 1800 acres of our forest (including within wildlife Protected Activity Centers, a feat that had rarely been done before). He is also a Captain on Quincy Volunteer Fire Department and has been on several OES calls providing structure protection during wildland fire events. Currently, Matt oversees the preparation, implementation, and inspections of Fire Safe Council hazardous fuels reduction projects on federal lands throughout Plumas County. He also coordinates PUC.

Email Matt

Funding

The Plumas Underburn Cooperative is funded by membership fees & donations as well as grants from CAL FIRE, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and Coalitions & Collaborations, Inc that have been acquired by the Plumas County Fire Safe Council and Feather River Resource Conservation District.

Donations for PUC can be made to Plumas County Fire Safe Council, a 501c(3) nonprofit.

Plumas Corporation is the fiscal agent for the Plumas County Fire Safe Council.