Left to Right: Faces of Ryan Hilburn (WM Beaty), U.S. Forest Service Officials Heidi Van Gieson and Daniel Cluck, and Cara Mendoza-Ward (CFA) Were Redacted by CAL FIRE in This CPRA-Obtained CAL FIRE Site Visit Report

CALIFORNIA FORESTRY ASSOCIATION FILMED PROPAGANDA VIDEO WHILE HERBICIDES SATURATED DIAMOND MOUNTAINS

In October 2024, representatives from CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, and private timber company W.M. Beaty & Associates gathered in the Diamond Mountains above Susanville, California — not to investigate environmental damage, but to film a promotional video.

Present at the site was the California Forestry Association (CFA), which recorded video snippets with various agency and industry representatives to promote the reforestation project. But behind the lens, the reality was starkly different: this was a taxpayer-subsidized industrial timber operation carried out with widespread herbicide use, all designed to support private biomass and timber profits — not public restoration.

According to the official CAL FIRE site visit report, participants discussed the need for “additional or more extensive release activities,” a term that refers to further herbicide spraying to suppress native vegetation and favor conifer plantations.

WHAT THIS PROJECT REALLY IS

This project is not ecological restoration. It is a private commercial timber scheme funded with public money.

• The land is privately owned by RRF Lassen-Plumas LLC and managed by W.M. Beaty & Associates.
• Funding comes from CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service through federal disaster relief. (Note: CAL FIRE funding for the specific section impacting George Jacobsen’s property is still unconfirmed and a formal clarification request is pending.)

The goals include:

• Removing biomass for sale to a biomass power plant north of Susanville that sells electricity to San Diego
• Exporting wood pellets to Europe and Asia
• Replanting monoculture conifer species for future logging
• Using repeated herbicide applications to control native plant regrowth

The entire operation benefits private corporations while shifting environmental and health risks onto neighboring landowners and communities.

STAGED ON CAMERA, SILENT ON CHEMICALS

According to the site visit report, CFA filmed video snippets featuring staff from CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, and W.M. Beaty discussing the project’s goals. While it is unclear exactly who was interviewed, those present included:

• Topher Byrd (CAL FIRE)
• Ryan Hilburn (W.M. Beaty & Associates)
• Cara Mendoza-Ward (California Forestry Association)
• Daniel Cluck and Heidi Van Gieson (U.S. Forest Service)
• Michael Clark-Rentas and Henry Cohen (CAL FIRE)

None of these agencies raised concerns in the report, which concluded, “No issues or concerns were noted.” Meanwhile, the group had already overseen aerial herbicide spraying over thousands of acres of steep, erosion-prone slopes — directly above streams without any barriers in place to stop snow melt or runoff from entering onto neighboring properties or further down the mountain into lower bodies of water.

HERBICIDES, RUNOFF, AND ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE

Permit records show W.M. Beaty & Associates are permitted to use the following herbicides on projects like this:

• Imazapyr (Alligare Rotary 2 SL)
• Hexazinone (Velpar DF)
• Triclopyr (Forestry Garlon XRT)
• Clopyralid (Transline)
• Aminocyclopyrachlor (Freelexx)
• 2,4-D (Weedone LV6 EC)

The following are not restricted-use pesticides in California:

• Glyphosate (Accord XRT II, Roundup Pro Concentrate, Riverdale) — Not Restricted
• Super Spread MSO (surfactant) — Not Restricted

Many are mobile in water and persistent in soil. Hexazinone, Imazapyr, and Aminocyclopyrachlor are especially concerning due to their long residual activity and high potential for contamination.

Despite these risks, no erosion controls were documented. No buffer zones. No public notification. No herbicide runoff testing was conducted for this project by the Lassen County Agricultural Commissioner Craig Hemphill, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board, CAL FIRE, or W.M. Beaty & Associates.

DOWNHILL DAMAGE — REAL AND IGNORED

Landowner George Jacobsen owns property directly below a W.M Beaty & Associates project site. His formal complaint with the Lassen County Agriculture Department under Commissioner Craig Hemphill dated June 3, 2025 includes photographic evidence of chemical residue, spring contamination, vegetation dieback, and white crust left by runoff entering his land.

Jacobsen was never warned. He drank from the spring. So did his dog. No one from the Lassen County Agriculture Department visited to inspect. He had to file multiple public records requests to obtain proof that spraying occurred at all.

PHOTO TAKEN MAY 25, 2025 BY GEORGE JACOBSEN ON FEDERAL FOREST SERVICE ROAD OFF GOLD RUN ROAD

W.M. Beaty & Associates, under the direction of Chief Forester Ryan Hilburn, conducted toxic herbicide spraying without buffer zones directly onto drainage ditches along a U.S. Forest Service road in the Diamond Mountains near Susanville, Lassen County, California. The photo shows chemically burned manzanita lining the left bank up to the water’s edge, with clear signs that the road surface itself was likely sprayed as well. The drainage ditch runs for hundreds of feet and leads into culverts that carry all rain and snowmelt runoff downslope. In addition to direct spraying, runoff from over 2,000 acres of steep, bare-soil terrain is funneled into these ditches, through the culverts, and down the mountain — crossing property lines and entering creeks far below. Meanwhile, W.M. Beaty and Cal Fire have filmed a promotional video for similar projects in the area, touting it as a model of successful post-fire reforestation — while completely omitting the ecological damage, toxic runoff, and destruction clearly visible in this image.

RYAN “HERBICIDE” HILBURN, CHIEF FORESTER FOR W.M. BEATY & ASSOCIATES

What they want you to see

CFA filmed the project as a success story. The site visit included photos of agency representatives standing on chemically treated slopes, discussing the importance of reforestation. But what the public didn’t see was the contamination below, or the taxpayer money funding private biomass exports and electricity sales.

The video itself, if released, would likely serve as little more than a propaganda piece for W.M. Beaty & Associates and their project manager Ryan Hilburn. By putting Hilburn on camera to speak about the “success” of the project, the goal appears to be gaining continued public funding for Beaty’s private timber operations. Rather than addressing environmental damage or public health risks, the shoot allowed a private timber contractor to promote his firm’s profit-driven herbicide operation using the language of restoration — while CAL FIRE and USFS officials stood silently by. This is not transparency; it’s strategic messaging designed to secure more tax dollars under the guise of wildfire recovery.

This image and the corresponding site visit report were obtained through a public records request filed with CAL FIRE.

Not restoration — just private profit

This project is industrial forestry using public funds. Biomass is sold to fuel a power plant north of Susanville. That plant sells electricity to Southern California. The rest is exported as wood pellets to Europe and Asia. Then the land is replanted with conifers to be logged again — with herbicides sprayed in the meantime.

The public pays for this cycle — and the damage.

What Protect Lassen County demands

• Full CEQA investigation into the undisclosed aerial spraying and misleading NOE
• Immediate suspension of further herbicide use by W.M. Beatty & Associates
• Independent water and soil testing across the runoff zone
• Accountability from public officials who signed off on this project without oversight – Craig Hemphill Lassen Agriculture Department Commissioner

This is not recovery. This is a greenwashing campaign covering for toxic forestry operations. The people of Lassen County deserve transparency, health protections, and a voice in how their land is treated.

CAL FIRE Site Visit Report Confirms WM Beaty’s Aerial Spraying of Toxic Herbicides in Lassen and Plumas Counties Under Joint Federal–State Disaster Recovery Program

CAL FIRE Site Visit Report Obtained via CPRA by Protect Lassen Confirms Ryan Hilburn of WM Beaty & Associates Coordinated Extensive Aerial Spraying of Toxic Herbicides in Lassen and Plumas Counties Under a Federally and State Funded “Disaster Recovery” Project