In our view there are impacts that have not been adequately addressed in the DEIR, and some of these impacts should cause the University to reconsider the range of alternatives analyzed in the EIR. In particular, the EIR should accurately analyze the long term environmental and fire risk benefits of the proposed Alternative A, submitted by Professor McBride, including that alternative’s recommendation that the Plan’s fuel reduction approach should commit to removing eucalyptus and Monterey pine (“pine”), rather than simply ‘thinning’ these species that pose such a high degree of fire risk. Based on the flaws to be identified in this letter, the Conservancy feels it is imperative that the University consider options beyond those identified in the DEIR. Because that will significantly affect the analysis presented in the DEIR, the Conservancy suggests that a revised EIR adopting a more complete and robust eucalyptus/pine removal strategy as the preferred alternative will need to be recirculated for additional public comment.
Response to UC Hill Campus Vegetation Management Plan by the Claremont Canyon Conservancy
The New Reality
The increased number and severity of wildfires in California over the past three years illustrates that we are in a new reality. Hotter summers combined with drought, longer, warmer falls and more prolonged Diablo winds, and now lightning, all brought about in large part by climate change, have altered our environment and increased the likelihood and danger of wildfires. (See notes A-D) Firefighters and government officials are telling us that once a wildfire gets started, our only recourse is evacuation. (See note E) The UC Hill Campus Vegetation Management Plan acknowledges this reality by making evacuation routes safer, removing highly flammable vegetation within 100 feet along Centennial Drive, Claremont Avenue and the Jordan Fire Trail. So far, so good.
Comments from Jerry Kent regarding UC's Draft Plan and EIR
The following comments are submitted by Jerry Kent on behalf of the Claremont Canyon Conservancy in response to the draft UC HILL WILDLAND VEGETATIVE FUEL MANAGEMENT PLAN/EIR (WVFMP/EIR). The Conservancy has been a strong supporter of University efforts to mitigate fire hazards on the Hill Campus since the 1991 fire. Including the significant fire hazard reduction improvements that were achieved by removing eucalyptus, pine, acacia, and other flammable planted and invasive vegetation between 2000 and 2007 in Claremont Canyon, at Chaparral Hill, and along the partial and incompleted joint EBRPD and UC Grizzly Peak Boulevard Ridgetop Fuelbreak.
Hero of Panoramic Hill
TOGETHER Bay Area and the Great American Outdoors Act
The Conservancy was a contributing committee member to TOGETHER BAY AREA's recently published report - Bay Area Lands, People, and Economy: A Snapshot Report of Green Stimulus Opportunities.
Hot, dry fire season is ahead, by Jon Kaufman
As I write this monthly message, the Apple Wildfire raging in Riverside County is spreading into San Bernardino County—currently only 12 percent contained. I'm afraid Californians, including residents of the East Bay Hills, are headed for a long, hot, dry fire season. CalFire has designated our area as as a very high danger zone.
Bill McClung, local hero of our canyons
Remembering Bill McClung, by David Kessler
Bill has meant so much to our community that it is hard to capture his impact in a few sentences. After the 1991 fire that brought so much death and destruction to our Berkeley and Oakland hills, Bill made it his life’s passion and work to inspire all of us to create a well-managed safe environment.
A list of organizations endorsing a joint powers agency can be found here
Claremont Canyon Conservancy
Friends of the Montclair RR Trail
Garber Park Stewards
Kensington Neighbors for Wildfire Safety
Kensington Public Safety Council
Make El Cerrito Fire Safe
Montclair Neighborhood Council
North Hills Community Association
Oakland Firesafe Council
Oakland Landscape Committee
Piedmont Pines Neighborhood Assn
Regional Parks Association
South Hills Beat 35Y.
Variable checkerspot butterfly, by Kay Loughman
Rare sighting of a bobcat in Claremont Canyon, by Marilyn Goldhaber
Joe Engbeck passed away March 22, 2020
It is with great sadness to report that veteran Claremont Canyon Conservancy co-founder Joseph H. Engbeck Jr. passed away on March 22, departing peacefully in his home after a lengthy illness. For many years Joe served as our vice president and later as a member of our Advisory Board. Joe wrote extensively about the American West …
Spring Message to Members, by Board President Jon Kaufman
Update on UC’s Plan and EIR by Jon Kaufman
The Conservancy continues to follow vegetation management work by the major landowners in Claremont Canyon as the threat of wildfire continues. This work is even more important now since the pandemic has strapped the financial resources of public agencies and potentially weakened their ability to both prevent and fight future wildfires. The University has begun developing a plan to manage vegetation on its upper, less developed campus. This affects those of us who live in and below the Canyon. At an earlier public meeting the University announced that its plan would be released for public comment before the Environmental Impact Report on it was prepared. We have now learned that the plan and the draft EIR will be made public together later this summer with public comment to follow. While this may appear to make the process more efficient, it runs the risk of making it harder for the University and the community to reach agreement on what vegetation management the eventual project will include. The Conservancy fears that the plan and the project will not be adequate and that significant fire-prone vegetation will not be removed from the hills on UC land. We are following this matter closely and will be prepared to step in as appropriate. Forestry Professor Emeritus Joe McBride prepared a proposal for wildfire mitigation last year which we believe offers the University the best way to prevent wildfire in both Strawberry and Claremont Canyons and we again urge the University to adopt it.
Outdoors during COVID-19 lockdown, by Marilyn Goldhaber
Sudden oak death, local SOD blitz, by Matteo Garbelotto, Ph.D.
In spite of the ongoing health scare and of the statewide “Shelter in Place” ordinance, we have been able to redesign the 2020 SOD Blitzes to make them 100% safe and legal, an effective activity that allows you to exercise, and—of course—a powerful Citizen Science program that will help all of us protecting our forests. The program has received full approval by U.C. Berkeley and it will go on as long as we all follow the simple guidelines posted at www.sodblitz.org.
Monkey flower gene discovered
Sticky monkey flower in north coastal scrub, south-facing slope of Claremont Canyon.
Monkey flower is about to bloom in coastal scrub areas all over the Claremont Canyon. In the next couple of months, when you're out walking on the trail, look for a low-lying bush with an abundance of small gold-orange, horn-shaped flowers and reflect upon a neat synergy with our native bees. In a related story, Berkeley News reports on UC Assistant Professor Benjamin Blackman's recent publication regarding two forms of monkey flower found in California, Mimulus guttatus and Mimulus lewisii (note, other names also apply). Blackman identified a gene that allows pigmented spots to "act as 'bee landing pads' attracting nearby pollinators." Our local sticky monkey flower, Mimulus aurantiacus, which is more common in Claremont Canyon, is less likely to display spots but nevertheless is well-known to attract bees and hummingbirds for pollination. Read more here.
Twentieth century major vegetation changes in the East Bay Hills, by Jerry Kent
Fuel management proposal for UC Hill Campus by Joe R. McBride
The purpose of this paper is to present a fuel management plan for University of California property located in Strawberry and Claremont canyons. The plan will identify site-specific fuel reduction treatments to reduce the fire hazard present in naturally occurring vegetation types and to convert highly hazardous plantations of eucalyptus and conifer species to less hazardous naturally occurring vegetation types.
Click here for Professor McBride’s full proposal.
