Middle Yuba Priority Planning Console

The Priority Planning Console builds on the Middle Yuba Watershed Forest Projects map to answer a forward-looking question: given a budget and a set of priorities, where should the next treatments go? The watershed is divided into roughly 900 hexagonal candidate “stands,” each carrying real, precomputed attributes — gentle-slope share (USGS 3DEP DEM), wildfire hazard potential and risk to potential structures (USFS Wildfire Risk to Communities), distance to roads and communities (OpenStreetMap), land ownership, and proximity to existing project footprints.

Each eligible stand (inside the watershed, mostly under 40% slope, and outside existing footprints) is scored on benefit (fire severity and community risk), access, and a strategy blend between connecting/expanding existing projects and filling high-benefit gaps. Stands are ranked and grown into contiguous project areas — seeded at the highest-scoring ground and accreting neighbors — up to a budget, project count, and optional target/minimum project size. Adjusting any input re-runs the prioritization live.

The console is inspired by the selection logic of the U.S. Forest Service ForSys model used in Planscape, but it is a lightweight local prototype — not Planscape — and a planning aid, not a treatment prescription. It does not model treatment effects over time or the full range of ecological co-benefits. Because the Middle Yuba lies within Planscape’s Sierra Nevada coverage, the authoritative multi-benefit and outcome modeling can be run there directly.