REDDING, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management today approved the Northwest California Integrated Resource Management Plan for public lands managed by the BLM Arcata and Redding field offices. The planning area covers 14.4 million acres in Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity, Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, and Butte counties, including approximately 382,000 acres of BLM-managed public lands and 295,100 acres of federal mineral estate.

“This plan is a collaborative effort and reflects the input of communities, local governments, Tribes, and other partners,” said Northern California District Manager Dereck Wilson. “We appreciate the public’s engagement to develop a management strategy that meets the needs of local communities and stakeholders, allowing for informed decisions and conservation that reflects BLM’s multiple-use mission.”

Management plans for the Redding and Arcata field offices were last developed in the 1990s. The new integrated plan addresses changing use patterns, provides for a wide variety of recreation opportunities, enacts new wildland fire and fuels management strategies, and protects and conserves Wild and Scenic Rivers and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern. The plan and Record of Decision are available at the BLM National NEPA Register.

For more information, contact the BLM Arcata Field Office at 707-825-2300, or the BLM Redding Field Office at 530-224-2100.

ALTURAS, Calif. – Fire crews from the Bureau of Land Management Applegate Field Office will conduct prescribed burns in various northeast California and northwest Nevada locations during the fall and winter months. Projects are designed to improve habitat conditions and reduce wildfire risk. They include burning piles of brush and limbs created in fuels reduction projects, and broadcast burns on larger landscapes.

Burning could get underway in mid October and will continue into winter months when fuel and weather conditions allow for safe and successful burning.

“The prescribed burns will help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire associated with high fuel loading in the Wildland Urban Interface, will improve firefighter safety and effectiveness in the event of a wildfire,” said Craig Drake, manager of the BLM Applegate Field Office in Alturas.  “These burns will also help prevent wildfire damages to natural resources and communities.”

Broadcast burns, which are carefully managed fires across larger areas, include a 490-acre project in the Hogback area near Fall River Mills, a 150-acre project near the community of Cassel, and a four-acre research-related burn in Washoe County, Nevada, east of Fort Bidwell.

Prescribed pile burn locations and details are as follows:

• Modoc Gulch, 4 miles southeast of Dorris, California, piled juniper in a 200-acre project area;
• Vya projects, 20 miles northeast of Fort Bidwell, California, piled juniper in a 1,600-acre area;
• Twin Lakes, 18 miles southeast of Cedarville, California, 700-acre project area of piled juniper;
• Ryegrass Swale, 9 miles south of Alturas, California, 100 acres of piled juniper;
• Nelson Corral, 6 miles northwest of Madeline, California, 50 acres of piled juniper;
• Duck Flat and Tuledad, 20 miles south of Eagleville, California, 2,000 acres of piled juniper;
• Bull Creek, 10 miles east of Cedarville, California, 900 acres of piled juniper;
• Stone Breaker, 5 miles east of Bieber, California, 100 acres of piled juniper; and
• Mt Dome, 12 miles southeast of Dorris, California, 70 acres of piled brush and juniper.

The BLM’s fuels management program conducts a wide variety of management vegetation treatments using mechanical, biological, and chemical tools, prescribed grazing, and prescribed fire. The program includes creating fuel breaks to protect resources and provide safe access for firefighters, and reducing fuel loads by removing trees, shrubs, juniper and invasive species. Projects are also designed to reduce wildfire risk near communities and infrastructure.

Crews conduct prescribed fires in accordance with burn plans that specify allowable weather and fuel conditions, and the personnel and equipment required.

More information is available by contacting the BLM Applegate Field Office at 530-233-4666.

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Law Firms

Ballard Spahr announces merger that ‘is just the tip of the next iceberg’ in Pacific Northwest

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 10, 2024, 9:32 am CDT

Ballard Spahr is expanding into the Pacific Northwest through a merger with Lane Powell, the law firms announced Monday.

Ballard Spahr will gain offices in Anchorage, Alaska; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle through the merger, which is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2025, according to a Sept. 9 press release. The combined firm will have more than 750 lawyers in 18 U.S. offices.

“We’re bullish on the Pacific Northwest—we really see opportunities in all three cities,” Peter Michaud, the chair at Ballard Spahr, told Law.com.

He joined Ballard Spahr through its 2018 merger with Lindquist & Vennum and became the chair this year. He will also chair the newly merged firm.

Greg Walther of Emerald Search Partners, a legal staffing and recruiting company, told Bloomberg Law that the Pacific Northwest is home to major technology companies, as well as an emerging biotech industry.

The merger “is just the tip of the next iceberg,” Walther said. “I’m sure there are a lot of other Am Law 50 firms looking at merging or planting a flag here in the Pacific Northwest.”

The merged firm will be called Ballard Spahr, although in the Pacific Northwest it will use the name Ballard Spahr Lane Powell for the next few years, Michaud told Law360.

Lane Powell, founded in 1875, has nearly 180 attorneys. Ballard Spahr has more than 600 lawyers in 15 U.S. offices.

Michaud told Bloomberg Law that Ballard Spahr will keep a one-tiered partnership “for the foreseeable future,” even though Lane Powell has a nonequity partnership tier.

The issue is “something that we’ll probably tackle as a combined firm,” Michaud told Bloomberg Law. In the meantime, he said, the focus will be on helping every Lane Powell attorney understand that they are important “regardless of what their what their title is.”

Michaud also told Bloomberg Law that Ballard Spahr is considering other growth opportunities in intellectual property and in the areas of Texas and Florida.

“As the combined firm, all of us will work together to figure out what … the next move should be,” he said.

Updated September 29, 2023
REDDING, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public input on the draft Northwest California Integrated Resource Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement for public lands managed by the Redding and Arcata field offices. The comment period will end by Dec. 28.

“Public input is critical to develop this plan that will guide our management into the future,” said Dereck Wilson, manager of the BLM’s Northern California District. “We encourage the public to reflect on the importance of these public lands in northwest California and their significant natural and cultural resources.” 

The Northwest California Integrated Resource Management Plan will guide management of approximately 382,200 acres of public land and approximately 295,100 acres of subsurface minerals in Del Norte, Siskiyou, Shasta, Humboldt, Mendocino, Trinity, Tehama and Butte counties for the next 15 to 20 years.

The integrated plan will replace the resource management plans for the Redding and Arcata field offices put into place in the mid-1990s. The need for a new resource management plan is due to increasing population and changing use patterns; to provide for a broad array of recreation uses; wilderness management; protect and conserve Wild & Scenic Rivers and Areas of Critical Environmental Concern; and consolidate BLM-managed public lands to conserve significant resources while providing public access.

The BLM will collaborate with local, state and federal agencies as well as Tribal partners to complete the plan. Public comments will help prepare the final environmental analysis and proposed resource management plan.

The planning area includes a great diversity of lands ranging from north coast beaches and dunes—to the Central Valley and Sacramento River—to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. These public lands provide a wide array of recreational opportunities, including wilderness trails, hunting areas, off-highway riding areas, mountain bike trails and scenic vistas. A wide range of uses are supported by these lands, including habitat for fish and wildlife, livestock grazing, mining, timber production and firewood collecting.

Public participation in the planning process will help the BLM develop a land use plan that reflects the values and needs of the people living in the region and those who visit.

Public comments may be submitted via email to BLM_CA_Redding_Arcata_NCIP@blm.gov, online at BLM NEPA Register, hand delivered, or mailed to the BLM Arcata Field Office at 1695 Heindon Road, Arcata, CA, 95521-4573.

More information is available from the BLM Arcata Field Office at 707-825-2300, or the BLM Redding Field Office at 530-224-2100.