Protect Lassen Blog

Maurice Anderson and the Lassen County Contamination Cover-Up

Why Did Lassen County Fail to Notify the Public About Hexazinone Contamination? A full Protect Lassen investigative report on Lassen County Chief Administrative Officer Maurice Anderson is coming soon. Anderson has been in possession of DPR-confirmed hexazinone contamination findings since October 2, 2025, along with two certified laboratory results from early June 2025 confirming hexazinone […]

Jason Ingram’s Insurance Theater: Performance Politics While Lassen County Burns

Jason Ingram’s Fire Insurance Hypocrisy: How Lassen County’s Supervisor Fuels the Crisis He Claims to Fight Lassen County District 5 Supervisor Jason Ingram has positioned himself as a champion for wildfire insurance reform, publicly demanding action from California’s Insurance Commissioner. But a closer look at Ingram’s record reveals a troubling contradiction: while he condemns rising […]

California Fire Safe Council: The Money Machine

The Wildfire Money Machine: How California’s Fire Safe Council Profits From Disaster Follow the money, and you’ll find the real story behind California’s wildfire “prevention” industry Every wildfire season, as flames tear through California communities and families flee for their lives, one organization quietly benefits from the destruction: the California Fire Safe Council. While presenting […]

Lassen Fire Safe Council: Anything But Grassroots

The Illusion of Community: How the Lassen Fire Safe Council Misleads the Public All information in this report was compiled from publicly available sources found on the internet. Despite receiving millions of dollars in public funding, the Lassen Fire Safe Council—under the leadership of Ruth Morentz and Cade Mohler—has refused to disclose any documents or […]

The Great Timber Waiver Farce

How the Lahontan Water Board Lets Timber Companies “Self-Monitor” Their Pollution By Protect Lassen | July 15, 2025 What happens when you let the fox guard the henhouse? You get the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board’s so-called “self-monitoring” program for timber operations — a regulatory loophole so wide, you could fly a helicopter spraying […]

What’s Poisoning Lassen County Forests?

A Deep Dive into W.M. Beaty & Associates’ Herbicide Use and the Systemic Lack of Oversight Across the forests of Lassen County, thousands of acres are being sprayed with powerful herbicides—often by helicopter. These operations are being carried out by timber company W.M. Beaty & Associates, using multi-year pesticide permits issued by the Lassen County […]

Ryan Hilburn of W.M. Beaty & Associates Is Poisoning the Diamond Mountains with Herbicides and Wildlife-Killing Rodenticides

This is not just regulatory failure — it is systemic corruption hiding in plain sight. By George Jacobsen – June 2025 Ryan Hilburn is the Chief Forester at W.M. Beaty & Associates and a state-appointed member of the California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, the agency responsible for writing and enforcing the rules that […]

The Hidden Cost of Lumber: A History of Timber Industry Pollution in California

Disclaimer:
This image is an editorial illustration based on direct eyewitness observation and official pesticide permits confirming aerial herbicide application by W.M. Beaty & Associates, Inc. Over thousands of acres in Lassen County, California, helicopters have sprayed toxic chemicals including 2,4-D, glyphosate, hexazinone, triclopyr, indaziflam, oxyfluorfen, and possibly others. These herbicides are applied in industrial timber operations across clearcuts and post-fire landscapes. This image represents public concern over rural drinking water safety, environmental health, and the regulatory gap surrounding herbicide oversight in California.