Scotch Broom on WOM

We asked NID to respond to the email reproduced below. They responded promptly and their responses are shown further below the email. If you live on WOM and have more concerns about these issues, let us know by commenting on this blog or send an email to pipeline@bannermountain.org.

original email: "I noticed the scotch broom is traveling down WOM. Is Tiegert even washing their truck tires or is Robinson according to the EIR? What company is hauling this material away? They already caused me power outage last month and my patience is wearing thin I wrote to Hugh that we need a meeting asap"

Ps Id appreciate they ask to use my property to prop up their signs thank you.

NID Response1: Preconstruction plant surveys for special status and noxious plants have been conducted last year and this year along the entire alignment for this project. Eco-Logic / Stantec out of their Nevada City office conducted a preconstruction survey along the entire Wings of Morning alignment prior to the construction beginning (including the tree removal process).

The survey was conducted for the areas of potential disturbance which included the edge of the temporary construction easement to the north and south on Wings of Morning. The attached map shows that scotch broom was found on Wings of Morning at the far west end of the road. The area that was designated by Eco-Logic / Stantec to contain the scotch broom was roped off and Robinson avoided this area during the tree removal process.

NID teamed up with the Fire Safe Council to remove this plant from the construction zone in the beginning of May and they removed the plants from the ground before they went to seed. If there is scotch broom entering onto Wings of Morning, it is not from NID or the contractors. We have taken the extra effort to avoid this issue and we will continue to do so throughout this project.

Thank you, Brian Powell

Follow up email from Brian Powell: Update to my email this morning. Apparently the Fire Safe crew didn’t get all of the scotch broom at the map locations in May and now the plant is blooming and more obvious. These areas were flagged off during the Robinson tree clearing and continue to be flagged. They are in locations where no activity had happened and no other activity has taken place since then.

I have called Joanne Drummond with the Fire Safe Council and they will be out next week to pull the remaining scotch broom, bag it up and transport it off site. She said that they normally transport it to the transfer station green waste section which then goes to the co-gen facility.

I want to make sure that the communication is accurate and that we are addressing this issue.

Link to map