Partner Profile | Beale Mountain Forestry & Environmental Consulting
Over the past four years, Beale Mountain has been subcontracted by the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to provide implementation oversight including quality control and regulation of fieldwork on the Yuba I FRB.
Written by: Jessica Alvarez, Communications & Content Manager
Based in Arizona, Beale Mountain Forestry & Environmental Consulting offers a wide range of consulting and land management services. Beale Mountain partners with landowners, contractors, other consulting firms, governmental agencies and nonprofits, focusing on their needs while producing new ideas, developing effective strategies and designing high-quality and scalable solutions for forest restoration.
Over the past four years, Beale Mountain has been subcontracted by the National Forest Foundation (NFF) to provide implementation oversight including quality control and regulation of fieldwork on the Yuba I FRB. Founded five years ago by Ann and Brett Anderson, Beale Mountain has worked closely with NFF and the US Forest Service to work through fieldwork issues as they arise; has acted as a logging supervisor and timber sale administrator; and overseen general contractor Robinson Enterprises’ day-to-day operation.
The hardest year to get all of this done so far, however, was 2021. Contractors, nearby communities, NFF and the Tahoe National Forest agree that 2021 has been the worst wildfire year this area has had to endure. Out of 22 working days in a month, during the 2021 field season, crews were affected by either shortened working hours or a complete shutdown of the operation for 16 days in July, 20 days in August, and 21 days in September due to high fire danger. Forest closures made it almost impossible to get any work done. For this reason, Ann tells us that the Yuba Meadow and Aspen projects have been granted one more year of operations to make up for lost time.
As Ann and husband Brett continue to work on Yuba I, they are also looking to add new projects to the 2023 field season and hope to do more work through the partnership. The two agree that working through this partnership has streamlined the process by facilitating work getting done faster and ensuring contractors get paid on time.
“It’s been really exciting for Beale Mountain to be working with NFF and the Forest Service on these projects and seeing what groups like Blue Forest and others in the North Yuba Forest Partnership are doing because it’s so forward-thinking in its management and vision,” said Ann. “This is something that I have specialized in for the last eight years—even before Beale Mountain started—and it’s really exciting to see that all the talking is now turning into action, and being a part of that is very rewarding for us,” she said.