RES 2026023 - Laserfiche WebLink

Sequoia Ecological Consulting, Inc. CalVTP Project-Specific Analysis and Addendum Augustin Bernal Community Park Fuel Reduction November 2025 2-2 simultaneously reducing the amount of air-delivered fire retardant required to coat vegetation effectively. Slowing down the spread of wildfire would provide additional time for an effective community evacuation. Fuels work done on the Project would also provide an area largely cleared of vegetative fuels, which can act as a muster point for any persons within the park during incipient wildfire activity. Uncontrolled wildfire is associated with environmental degradation impacts, such as increased GHG emissions and habitat loss. This project would reduce dangerous wildfire fuels in a deliberate manner designed to minimize environmental impacts to wildlife and protected plants. Treatment types and activities described in the CalVTP aim to mimic conditions that exist in a natural environment where natural fires would have occurred. Strategic fuel removal would concentrate on areas of high fuel concentrations and disrupt the horizontal and vertical continuity of fuel beds. Biological diversity in the area would be maintained by promoting conditions that favor native plant and animal species. Forest health would be improved through enhancing native, fire-resilient plant communities, primarily through ladder fuel and weed removal, opening space for native plants to return. Healthy mature trees and scrub dominating the canopy would be thinned out and retained, reducing new brush and understory growth while preserving the carbon sequestration function. Biomass would be strategically diminished in open grassy areas. In addition to the project treatment types and activities being consistent with the CalVTP, The City follows CAL FIRE’s best management practices (BMPs), which include identifying and avoiding sensitive resources to ensure environmental protection when designing and constructing fuels reduction projects. Implementation of these BMPs in combination with the CalVTP’s SPRs and MMs would protect lives, property, and natural resources while implementing fuels reduction activities. 2.1. Treatment Types The proposed project would utilize two treatment types in combination to create fuel break and reduction for firefighting resources to contain or stop a fire: WUI fuel reduction and fuel break. Strategic placement of the WUI fuel break would be based upon the prevailing vegetation types, topographic characteristics, environmental considerations, and surrounding land uses. Fuels in the project area are primarily heavy loads of oak (Quercus spp.), coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), sticky monkey flower (Diplacus aurantiacus), poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), and grass; the general topography is steep with trail access through majority of the project area. Residential homes adjacent to the project are primarily moderate to large in size (2,000 to 4,000 square feet) on moderate to large lots with densely intermixed vegetation and landscaping.