RECOMMENDATIONS

by

The East Bay Vegetation Management Consortium

Fire Hazard Mitigation Program & Fuel Management Plan for the East Bay Hills

Of the 37,000 acres in the study area, over 10,500 acres of private and public wildlands have the potential for extreme fire behavior. Clearly the social, fiscal and environmental costs of managing such a wide scale of vegetation are unacceptably high. Therefore, recommendations were prioritized to have the greatest impact on human life, safety, and property.

Buffer

Throughout the study area a series of potential treatment areas form a network or "buffers" 500 feet wide. The buffers are located between the wildlands and developed areas and consist of public and private lands . Within these buffers approximately 3,200 acres are targeted for management to reduce the potential for erratic fire behavior. Management prescriptions are recommended based on dominant vegetation type with the goal of calming the potential fire behavior. These recommendations will be adjusted for specific site conditions and will apply to both public and privately owned lands within the identified buffer.

Grasslands

601 acres within the buffer are currently hazardous grasslands. Treatment in the buffer focuses on establishing a minimum of 30 to 100 foot wide strips of short grass. This may be done by hand labor, grazing, prescribed fire, mechanical mowing or roadside chemical treatments depending upon the location, topography and environmental considerations.

Grazing


Shrub Dominated

The shrub dominated residential communities in the East Bay Hills represent potentially the most dramatic fire behavior with flame lengths as high as 69 feet predicted . Within the buffer currently 1,099 acres have hazardous vegetation belonging to one of 4 types of brush communities: North mixed chaparral, North coastal scrub, Successional scrub & Exotic shrubs. Treatment focuses on reducing the fuel volume without removal of the entire shrub. Recommended techniques include hand removal of dead materials, crushing by machinery, prescribed fire or grazing by goats depending upon the site conditions. In areas where the shrub community is encroaching into grasslands or in mixed hardwood woodlands, individual shrubs should be removed to retain grasslands or speed succession into a, more fire-safe, closed canopy forest.

Tree Dominated

Approximately 900 acres of Eucalyptus within the study area have a continuity of fuel, or "fuel ladders" that extend from the ground to the crown of the stand of trees. These stands are recommended for treatment regardless of their location due to their potential for spreading fires through long range "spotting." This condition is of special concern given the ease of ignition of deep continuous beds of leaves, dead branches, and bark typically found under the Eucalyptus trees.
Monterey Pine Forests have similar hazardous conditions in 18 acres of the buffer. Treatment recommendations include removal of leaf litter or needles, dead materials, fuel ladders and removal of hazard trees to reduce the overall stand density.

Mixed Hardwood Woodlands are at the stage of succession where trees have begun to dominate over the scrub communities. The recommendations for approximately 116 acres of woodlands in the buffer are to reduce the build up of surface fuels and dead materials within the trees that can carry a fire into the top or canopy of trees. Much of the work in all tree dominated areas requires use of hand labor and selective cutting. Prescribed fire can be utilized effectively in prepared stands to reduce the ground fuels. Mechanical equipment and grazing may be appropriate in areas with shrub understory if desirable trees can be protected.

Changes of Vegetation Over Time

Currently, approximately one-half of the buffer area is not predicted to produce erratic fire behavior. However, it is anticipated that areas not targeted for management will require treatment in the future as fuel collects in these areas. Periodic future assessment of high hazard vegetation types will be required.

Recommendations for Structures and Landscapes in the Urban-Wildland Intermix

In the urban-wildland intermix where structures and landscapes are mixed together with no dominant vegetation type, a model ordinance proposed for adoption by participating cities recommends actions that address both structures and landscapes. The hazard assessment identifies 9 critical factors that relate to fire behavior and survivability in the intermix. Hazard ratings are separately established for structures and landscapes to permit a neighborhood to focus on their specific factors. The ordinance requirements parallel these factors applying to all property in the High Hazard Area regardless of ownership, and includes undeveloped parcels. The requirements call for:

Landscapes

Establishment of Defensible Space by

Proper disposal of materials by

Proper storage of flammable and combustible materials.
Garden structures that meet the requirements for materials and construction techniques described under structures.

Structures

Removal of combustible roofing and replacement with Class A rated roof.


Standards for new and modified existing structures include:

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