'Inimim Forest South Yuba Rim Little Deer Creek Round Mountain

Forest Health & Fuels Reduction

‘Inimim Forest Restoration Project

Active — Phase 3San Juan Ridge, Nevada County, CA

YWI’s flagship collaboration with BLM to restore historical forest structure and resilient function on Nevada County's San Juan Ridge.

~2,000 acLandscape

12BLM parcels

$3M+Total funding

292.8 acPhase 3 treated

The story

Why this place, why now

The ‘Inimim Forest sits on the San Juan Ridge in Nevada County — a mosaic of 12 BLM-managed parcels totaling roughly 2,000 acres. The name ‘Inimim is a Nisenan word meaning 'ponderosa pine.'

The partnership runs deep: a 1991 Cooperative Management Agreement with BLM created the ‘Inimim Forest, and the first ‘Inimim Forest Management Plan followed in 1995. The current phased restoration grew out of a 2018 Sierra Nevada Conservancy planning grant ($75K) that funded the surveys and NEPA work behind today's treatments.

Since 2018, YWI, BLM, and state partners — Sierra Nevada Conservancy, CAL FIRE — have sequenced this work into multi-year phases that layer planning, implementation, and monitoring to keep treatments moving across the landscape rather than stalling between funding cycles.

Each phase pairs landscape-scale fuels work with ecological restoration: thinning to release legacy pines and black oaks, mastication where manzanita has crowded out the understory, hand work in the steep ground a machine can't reach, and prescribed pile burns to close the loop.

Goals & approach

What we're after

01Reduce ladder and canopy fuels to lower wildfire severity and risk to nearby communities.
02Restore historical pine, Douglas-fir, and hardwood structure — release legacy trees, encourage mixed-age regeneration.
03Build resilience to drought, insects, and disease across the broader watershed.
04Maintain safe access for fire personnel and protect evacuation routes through the ridge.

Timeline

Phases of work

The work moves in waves — planning, treatment, monitoring — across overlapping phases.

Phase 1· 2018–2022

523 ac$415K CAL FIRE · $300K SNC + BLM in-kind

Understory fuels reduction across Shields Camp and Bear Tree parcels. Established shaded fuel breaks along primary access routes; addressed hazard trees.

Phase 2· 2020–2023

337 ac$1M SNC

Expanded onto the Big Parcel, focusing on interior units away from roads. Shifted toward ecological restoration — thinning to release legacy pines and black oaks.

Phase 3· 2024–2027

292.8 / 304 ac$1.2M SNC (Agreement #1507)

~304 acres of mechanical thinning, biomass harvest, mastication, and hand thinning across BLM parcels near Jackass Flats Rd, North Canyon Rd, and Backbone Rd. Spring 2026 pile burn complete (~250 ac, ≥85% biomass reduction). Remaining ~11 ac of hand thinning on the Long View parcel, plus Scotch broom removal and pile re-burns, planned for Fall 2026; grant closes out Spring 2027.

Map

Where it happens

Map of Inimim Forest parcels on the San Juan Ridge — 12 BLM parcels arranged along the San Juan Ridge. Phase 3 units cluster near Jackass Flats Rd, North Canyon Rd, and Backbone Rd.Approx. 1:24,000

Treatment data

What we do on the ground

Treatment	Acres	Notes
Biomass harvest	~253 ac	Pre-marked + DxP
Mechanical mastication	~13 ac	Manzanita + small trees ≤10"
Hand thinning	~38 ac	Steep / sensitive terrain
Invasive control	~2 ac	Scotch broom

Gallery

From the field

Tracked masticator in foreground, surrounded by chipped fuels. Intact forest in background, with small cabin on the left. — Understory fuels reduction near the Ananda Meditation retreat.

Tracks and chips on ground in foreground, cut material piled for future treatment nearby. — Mastication unit midway through treatment, on the Bald Mountain parcel.

Three-person hand crew with sawyer and two swampers assembling burn piles on a slope in a mixed conifer forest. — Hand crew from Red Mtn Resource constructing burn piles on the Bald Mountain parcel in 2024.

A crew in hard hats feeds limbed branches into a green tracked chipper in a thinned ponderosa pine stand; chipped material and slash cover the forest floor. — Crew chipping limbs and small-diameter material during understory fuels reduction.

A red chipper discharges an arc of wood chips onto a roadside bank while a crew in hard hats and high-visibility vests drags conifer slash along a muddy forest road under overcast winter skies. — Roadside chipping along an access route on a wet winter day.

Long stacks of cut logs form a landing deck in an open pine forest, with a white pickup truck and green log loader in the background and freshly worked ground in front. — Sawlog decks staged for haul-out after thinning.

A green tracked log loader sits on a gravel landing flanked by two large stacks of logs, with a white pickup parked alongside under a clear blue sky. — A log loader works a landing between decks of sawlogs and smaller material.

A tracked harvester with a raised cutting head holds a small conifer in a thinned, fire-scarred pine forest; freshly felled small trees lie on the grassy ground. — A harvester thinning small-diameter conifers in a fire-scarred stand.

A worker in a yellow shirt stands beside a green skidder gathering logs at the edge of a mixed oak and conifer forest, with fallen autumn leaves covering the ground near a dirt road. — A skidder moving logs through a mixed oak and conifer stand in autumn.

A firefighter stands at the base of a machine pile as flames tower above the surrounding pine canopy. Photo: Hilary Hattie Waters / Yahïla Foto.

Two firefighters watch a pile burn from a low angle, smoke drifting through the forest canopy. Photo: Hilary Hattie Waters / Yahïla Foto.

A community member watches from just feet away as a machine pile burns at full intensity. Photo: Hilary Hattie Waters / Yahïla Foto.

A red drip torch resting on a stump with a smoldering pile and smoky forest behind it. Photo: Hilary Hattie Waters / Yahïla Foto.

Partners & funders

Who we work with

Bureau of Land ManagementFederal land manager

Sierra Nevada ConservancyPrimary state funder

CAL FIREFunder + technical support

Sierra Pacific IndustriesMill — Phase 3 timber

Terra Fuego Resource FoundationPile burning crew

Documents

Plans, reports, data

Latest from this project

FAQ

Common questions

It's a Nisenan word meaning 'ponderosa pine.' The name acknowledges the Nisenan people, the original stewards of this landscape.
Yes — these are BLM-managed parcels open for non-motorized recreation. Some treatment units may be temporarily closed during active operations; check signage along roadways.
Decades of fire suppression have left the forest much denser than it was historically. A wildfire today would burn at far higher severity than the low-intensity surface fires this forest evolved with. Thinning followed by prescribed fire is how we reset the dial.
Phase 3 has yielded roughly 750,000 board feet to Sierra Pacific Industries. Revenue from merchantable timber offsets a portion of treatment costs; smaller material is piled and burned or masticated on site.

For more background and updates, visit the original project page.

‘Inimim Forest Restoration Project

Phase 1· 2018–2022

Phase 2· 2020–2023

Phase 3· 2024–2027

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