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<br />Sequoia Ecological Consulting, Inc. <br />CalVTP Project-Specific Analysis and Addendum <br />Augustin Bernal Community Park Fuel Reduction <br />November 2025 <br />4-94 <br /> <br /> <br />4.16.1. Discussion <br />4.16.1.1. Impact WIL-1 <br />The Project would create and maintain a 162-acre reduced fuel zone within and adjacent to Augustin <br />Bernal Community Park on Pleasanton Ridge in Alameda County, California. The Project would reduce <br />ladder fuels within a shaded fuel break and WUI, ranging from 100 to 400 feet wide, creating safer fire <br />road access for first responders and community members. <br />Initial and maintenance treatments would include prescribed burning (pile and broadcast) and mechanical <br />treatments, which could result in temporary risks associated with uncontrolled wildfire, accidental wildfire <br />ignition, or risk of a prescribed fire escaping its control lines. The CalVTP PEIR found wildfire risk during <br />treatment implementation to be a less-than-significant impact because activities are conducted under <br />strict safety protocols and planning that prevent increased fire hazards. The Project is covered under the <br />PEIR because prescribed pile and broadcast burning, along with the use of heavy equipment in vegetated <br />areas, are activities included within its scope. SPRs HAZ-2, HAZ-3, HAZ-4, and AD-3 would be implemented <br />to reduce the risk of exposure to wildfire by requiring spark arrestors on mechanical hand tools, requiring <br />crews to carry one fire extinguisher per chainsaw, prohibiting smoking in vegetated areas, and requiring <br />consistency with local plans, policies, and ordinances. Based on the implementation of the SPRs, the <br />potential to substantially exacerbate fire risk and expose people to uncontrolled spread of wildfire would <br />be less than significant and within the scope of the PEIR. <br />The inclusion of approximately 93 acres of land that is outside the CalVTP treatable landscape in the <br />proposed treatment area constitutes a change to the geographic extent presented in the PEIR. However, <br />within the boundary of the project area, the wildfire risk of the project area is essentially the same within <br />and outside the treatable landscape; therefore, the wildfire impact is also the same, as described above. <br />This determination is consistent with the PEIR and would not constitute a substantially more severe <br />significant impact than covered in the PEIR. <br />4.16.1.2. Impact WIL-2 <br />Initial and maintenance treatments would include prescribed burning (pile and broadcast), mechanical <br />treatment using motorized equipment, and prescribed herbivory. The CalVTP PEIR found post-fire <br />flooding, erosion, and landslide risks to be a less than significant impact because treatments are designed <br />to reduce fuel loads and are implemented with erosion control measures and site-specific planning that <br />minimize soil disturbance and runoff. The Project is within the scope of the PEIR, as its activities are <br />consistent with those analyzed in the document. Mechanical treatment activities would occur <br />predominantly on slopes below 40 percent grade and along ridges and may occur on slopes greater than <br />40 percent grade with equipment that can reach target vegetation from existing road infrastructure.