The U.S. Forest Service is planning a major ‘fuel reduction’ and logging operation called the Trinity Divide/Lakehead Cooperative Fuel Break Project on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The project would remove up to 60 to 70 percent of the tree canopy across nearly 2,000 acres along ridges, with additional roadside treatments across the remaining acreage of a 2,538-acre project area near Trinity Lake and Interstate 5. Treatment zones would stretch up to 1,000 feet wide. Critically, the agency is trying to fast-track this project using a shortcut called a Categorical Exclusion, whichbypasses the full Environmental Assessment that a project of this scale and ecological sensitivity legally requires.

Read more on our blog! Public comments are due by May 11, 2026.