California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)

Home › California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle)

About the project

The 2020 California fire season tallied over 8,000 wildfires which scorched 4.1 million acres, destroying more than 10,000 structures and resulting in 31 fatalities. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) tasked the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) with streamlining the safe removal of wildfire debris.

Tidal Basin and Michael Baker International joined together to lead the cleanup effort for the Inland Branch Emergency Cleanup Response, an area that encompassed 40 separate wildfire incidents.

Key takeaways

  • Prime Contractor: Tidal Basin and Michael Baker International
  • Project Dates: November 2020 – May 2022
  • Location:
    Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo Counties, CA
Download Case Study

Challenge

Emphasizing our ability to perform at the onset of the global
COVID-19 pandemic, Tidal Basin maintained an aggressive
approach for compliance despite constantly changing CDC
and WHO guidance. We were tasked with the debris
cleanup and coordination with agencies like FEMA, USACE,
California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Governor’s
Office, and the State Historica Preservation Office as well as
several tribal nations.

Due to the arduous terrain and water crossings that make
up parts of the landscape within the Inland Branch, we
utilized helicopter access in some areas for hazardous
tree identification and removal. This required extensive
coordination for development of a helicopter safety plan,
hazardous tree removal process, and an intense employee
training course for the removal of more than 3,000 trees.

During the recovery period, many property owners elected
to participate in CalRecycle’s program and signed Right-
of-Entry (ROE) agreements to grant cleanup crews access
to their property, but some opted out. Keeping track of the
ROE agreements and mapping the cleanup sites would have
been an impossible task if not for the assistance of Michael
Baker’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to streamline
workflows and provide inspection status transparency.

Solution

Tidal Basin complied with CalOSHA and OSHA requirements to successfully perform monitoring and oversight services connected to the removal of hazardous trees, including the supervision of arborists and the provision of crew leaders trained to identify eligible trees for removal under the program’s requirements and specifications.

Our management and oversight included the monitoring and recording of all data associated with the identification, site assessment, removal, and disposal of all eligible debris and hazardous trees by Assessor’s Parcel Number (APN).

Michael Baker’s work on the Tidal Basin Team included environmental solutions that addressed biological and cultural resources, water quality, historic property compliance, and other factors related to the emergency clean-up. In addition, they helped to acquire streamlined waivers, permits, and approvals and oversaw the environmental protection plan on behalf of regional, state, and federal agencies. Michael Baker’s GIS team created a series of maps for each ¼-mile section of Right-of-Way. There were specific maps for each task, such as debris removal or asbestos assessment, as well as a dashboard using ArcGIS Online to display the debris removal status for each property within the project area. This provided an overall view of the progress of the project and the percentage of debris removal that had been completed.

The GIS portion of this project was so successful it was awarded the MAPPS Excellence Award in the category of GIS/IT/Remote Sensing Analysis, which includes:

  • Application Development
  • Geospatial Enterprise Development
  • Satellite/Aerial Image Classification
  • Photointerpretation
  • Change Detection
  • Thematic Mapping

Tidal Basin successfully liaised with the following tribes on the Inland Branch 2020 Fires team:

  • Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians
  • Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
  • Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria
  • Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians
  • Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation

Your knowledge of the complex governmental regulations and equally complex insurance and adjusting issues really helped the county maximize the public assistance that was available after all of these disasters. You delivered what you promised, and we are confident in your ability and the ability of your firm to provide these services fully on a technical and professional level yet be able to translate clearly and concisely the intricate and sometimes subjective FEMA regulations which we could not have done without you.

Salvatore R. Zappulla, Division Director Monroe County Budget and Finance, Monroe County, Florida

The State of Alaska…[has] a significant investment in the disaster recovery process for both state and federally declared events…. The collaboration with Tidal Basin in these efforts has been so successful and seamless that in most instances applicants and FEMA staff don’t even realize we have contractors on board unless we tell them. Our interaction with Tidal Basin staff and managers works and feels like true teammates and the result is a faster, more comprehensive delivery of disaster recovery resources to survivors.

Sam Walton, Program Manager for Disaster Assistance, State of Alaska

Months after the storm passed, the County was still faced with tremendous burdens related to the insurance coverage issues and FEMA and MEMA eligibility issues. Jackson County hired your organization to provide professional services for disaster assistance, remediation, restoration and recovery efforts….Their expertise with governmental regulations, the complex FEMA process and insurance adjustments resulted in our successful claim for over $2 million in additional FEMA Public Assistance funding specifically; in our successful negotiations with our insurance carrier; and in numerous other increases in the values FEMA and MEMA initially designated for County projects. Jackson County will always be mindful of the help we received from you when we needed it most.

Alan K. Sudduth, County Administrator, Board of Supervisors, Jackson County, Mississippi