The Conservancy is pleased to announce the completion of the Mid-Canyon and Stonewall Road fuels reduction projects, the final phases of our 2005-2006 fire-safety program in the Claremont Canyon Preserve. The program grew out of a consensus among neighbors, government agencies, and land-holders, who agree that we need to gain some control of the invasive eucalyptus, acacia, and pines that increasingly encroach upon the roads, homes, and wild habitat of the East Bay hills. The work was funded by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and conducted with the oversight of the East Bay Regional Park District, with the participation and support of the City of Oakland and individual neighbors. We hope that this work will serve as a model for public-private fire-safety partnerships in the future.
Though this project addresses relatively small portions of the larger problem, we feel that these two key sites are important links in the ongoing fire-safety work on University of California, EBRPD, EBMUD, Oakland, and private land in Claremont Canyon. The first phase of the program, fuel-reduction in the Gwin Canyon area, is described in our Spring
