Protect Lassen Susanville, CA
Protect Our Land, Water, Wildlife, and Rights
Protect Lassen is a grassroots watchdog organization dedicated to defending Lassen County’s natural resources and the rights of its people. We expose environmental abuse, fight government corruption, and protect clean water, native wildlife, and community health from harm.
Stand with us. Speak out. Protect what matters.
This footage was captured in the Chester and Lake Almanor area of Northern California. It provides a real-world look at aerial herbicide application in active forestry zones.
What’s shown here is only the tip of the iceberg. While glyphosate is one of the more widely recognized chemicals, it is often just one component of a broader herbicide mix applied by helicopter across millions of acres throughout California. These mixtures can include chemicals such as indaziflam, hexazinone, imazapyr, 2,4-D, and others.
These operations are not limited to the U.S. Forest Service. They also involve state agencies like CAL FIRE, private logging companies such as W.M. Beaty & Associates and Sierra Pacific Industries, as well as local fire-related organizations like Lassen Fire Safe Council and other Fire Safe Councils across California that participate in vegetation management programs involving herbicide use. Much of this activity is funded, directly or indirectly, by taxpayer dollars.
Agencies like the U.S. Forest Service and CAL FIRE distribute millions of dollars through grant programs that support large-scale forest management, fuels reduction, and reforestation projects carried out by contractors and private industry.
These funding programs are specifically designed to partner with and financially support forestry operations, workforce development, and wood products infrastructure across California, effectively channeling public funds into projects implemented by logging companies and related contractors.
In the years following the Dixie and Sheep Fires, logging companies have been flying helicopters over thousands of acres of recovering forest in Lassen County, spraying toxic herbicide cocktails designed to kill off native vegetation and make way for commercial monoculture tree farms — all funded by millions of dollars in CAL FIRE grants, your tax dollars. When we began testing the water downstream from these operations, we found herbicide. What we found next was worse: not a single agency — not the Lahontan Water Board, not the Department of Pesticide Regulation, not the Lassen County Agricultural Department — is testing the water around these massive multi-thousand-acre applications in sensitive mountain watersheds. And when a formal complaint backed by positive lab results was submitted to Lahontan, the Assistant
Executive Officer Jan Zimmerman refused to visit the site, refused to sample the water, and claims she never even contacted the company responsible. This is the documented story of a regulatory system designed not to find contamination — and what happens when someone does.
Uncovering the Truth: Articles and Evidence on Transparency Failures and Environmental Abuse
Lassen Fire Safe Council: Taxpayer-Funded, Industry-Aligned, and Not Grassroots
Beneath the safety slogans and token public donations, the Lassen Fire Safe Council is quietly coordinating herbicide spraying, industrial logging, and biomass extraction across thousands of acres—funded by millions in taxpayer money each year. This exposé reveals how a publicly funded “nonprofit” built a grassroots image to hide its deep ties to timber interests.
How the Lahontan Water Board Lets Timber Companies “Self-Monitor” Their Pollution
Exposing how the Lahontan Water Board Region 6 allows timber companies to self-monitor herbicide pollution with no testing, no oversight, and no consequences — just a signed form and a yearly checkbox.
The Honey Lake Resource Conservation District Herbicide Cover-Up
Honey Lake Resource Conservation District, the designated CEQA lead agency, routinely approves environmental documents written by the very project implementer it funds — the Lassen Fire Safe Council. This closed-loop arrangement eliminates independent review.
Silenced by Design: How LFSC Uses Lawyers and Intimidation to Suppress the Truth
The Lassen Fire Safe Council claims to be a grassroots community nonprofit — but their actions tell a different story. From legal threats to ignored records requests, Protect Lassen reveals how this publicly funded group uses silence, deflection, and denial to hide years of toxic herbicide use and avoid accountability.
A Deep Dive Inside the California Fire Safe Council Machine
A hard-hitting investigation into the California Fire Safe Council reveals deep ties to the timber and insurance industries, funding pipelines that reward monoculture and biomass extraction, and a network of top-down “local” fire councils designed to look grassroots while serving private interests. Learn how CFSC became the central power broker in California’s wildfire industrial complex — and why it’s making fire risk worse, not better.
CNRA Exposed: How California Funds Environmental Harm
Coming Soon: A detailed investigative report examining how the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA)—the state’s top environmental authority—oversees both CEQA enforcement and the funding of projects that frequently bypass environmental review.
Rural Drinking Water and the Herbicide Oversight Gap in California
California’s timber regions are sprayed with herbicides like 2,4-D and glyphosate—but no agency monitors how these chemicals affect rural drinking water. With no mandatory testing or public alerts, residents are left in the dark. Protect Lassen exposes the state’s failure to protect private wells and the communities who rely on them.
The Hidden Cost of Lumber: A History of Timber Industry Pollution in California
For over 150 years, California’s timber industry has reshaped the landscape through clearcutting, chemical spraying, and regulatory loopholes. From poisoned streams to untested rural wells, this investigation reveals how industrial forestry and state-backed herbicide use have created a toxic legacy still threatening communities and ecosystems today.
Ryan Hilburn Is Poisoning the Diamond Mountains with Herbicides + Rodenticides
For years, Ryan Hilburn has operated at the intersection of private profit and public policy — overseeing toxic herbicide operations at W.M. Beaty funded by Cal Fire Grants. As a state-appointed member of California’s Board of Forestry, Hilburn holds power over the very system he exploits.
Are you a property owner who has signed an agreement with the Lassen Fire Safe Council for their “reforestation” services?
Did you know that your contract may make you the responsible party for herbicide applications? Have you considered your potential liability if drift occurs onto neighboring properties or if water contamination happens? Did LFSC clearly explain these risks and your responsibilities under the contract before you signed?
Do you own land near a logging site? You need to know this.
Logging may leave more than just stumps behind.
If you own property downhill or near a logging operation, you could be at risk of:
- Toxic herbicide drift
- Toxic herbicide runoff into your water supply
- Toxic herbicide runoff into streams and waterways on your land
- Long-term damage to native vegetation and wildlife
Support Independent Oversight in Lassen County
Donations currently fund independent laboratory testing of water and soil for herbicide contamination in Lassen County. As funding grows, donations will also support legal counsel for CPRA and CEQA enforcement. Every expenditure is published on this site.
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