Forty-year rural Nevada County resident John LeLange looks out over his 11-acre property Wednesday off Dixon Road that was recently masticated and abated of fire prone vegetation. LeLange’s property sits within the Ponderosa West Grass Valley Defense Zone shaded fuel break.
Photo: Elias Funez
The Ponderosa West Grass Valley Defense Zone project is close to wrapping up, with about 907 acres of land having been cleared of potential wildfire fuel out of a target of 1,200 acres.
An additional 60 acres are expected to be cleared by the end of April, with homeowners in these parcels having agreed to have their properties abated, said Jamie Jones, executive director of the Nevada County Fire Safe Council. The remaining 200-250 acres in the defense zone are owned by homeowners who have not yet responded to the county’s request to treat their properties for fuel abatement.