On March 14th, on a very windy, crystal clear day, ten hearty souls from the Claremont Club and Spa joined our Conservancy community to clean up parts of Garber Park and the public paths leading to its Evergreen entrance.
Conservancy issues statement regarding appellate court ruling on UC Plan
Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve—Eucalyptus Removal is Underway by Marilyn Goldhaber
Skyline Blvd Evacuation Corridor Project is Underway
In December 2021, the City was awarded over $820,000 in new grant funding from CAL FIRE to selectively remove approximately 250 dead, dying, or otherwise hazardous trees, and selectively prune hazardous branches on trees lining or overhanging the Skyline Boulevard Evacuation Corridor, beginning at Shepherd Canyon Road and ending at Keller Avenue. This work is now underway.
Trees of Eucalyptus Path, by Jo-Anne Ting
Claremont Avenue and UC Fire Trails will be closed 9 am- 3 pm, weekdays between November 17 —January 15 for Claremont Canyon Evacuation Improvement Project, UCB Facilities Services
The project is comprised of fire fuel mitigation work along upper Claremont Ave. on lands owned University of California, Berkeley (UCB). Project activities will take place within UCB Property 100 feet of the edge of pavement along Claremont Ave. The location of work is indicated on the map below, labelled as EST-3. Total project area is approximately 18 acres.
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.
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.
Aerial views of eucalyptus trees in UC’s Hill Campus before and after the 1972 freeze, by Jerry Kent
Comments regarding the NOP and IS from Stuart Flashman and Michael Graf
These comment are submitted by myself and Mr. Michael Graf, Esq. on behalf of the Claremont Canyon Conservancy (“Conservancy”), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization, in response to the University of California Regents’ Notice of Preparation (“NOP”) and Initial Study (“IS”) for the above-referenced plan. We appreciate the opportunity to submit these comments, which enlarge upon comments made by the two of us at the public scoping meeting held on December 2, 2019.
Comments submitted by Jerry Kent regarding UC's NOP and Initial Study
The Conservancy has been a strong supporter of the University’s efforts to mitigate fire hazards on the Hill Campus since the 1991 fire—including the significant fire hazard reduction improvements that were achieved between 2000 and 2007 in Claremont Canyon, at Chaparral Hill, and along the Grizzly Peak Boulevard Ridgetop Fuel break between Grizzly Peak and Chaparral Hill. We believe UC was able to accomplish important fire mitigation work at these project areas with limited funds, limited staffing, and without opposition by the public.
Conservancy submits comments regarding UC's Vegetative Fuel Management Initial Study, by Jon Kaufman
We were pleased to learn that the Initial Study is not the complete plan that UC intends to make the subject of the Environmental Impact Report. As was noted at the scoping meeting, the Initial Study is too vague and non-specific. As UC and its consultant develop the full plan, we urge that the following points be given careful consideration.
UC Professor Emeritus Joe McBride's comments regarding UC's Vegetative Fuel Management Initial Study
On November 20, 2019, UC Berkeley issued a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for its Hill Campus Wildland Fuel Management Plan. The following response by UC Professor Emeritus Joe McBride was submitted to the planners, along with oral comments given at a December 2 scoping meeting:
Response to UC Berkeley Hill Campus Management Plan – Joe McBride – Nov. 25, 2019
… Vegetation management treatments are proposed (e.g., defensible space; shaded fuel breaks; roadside fuel breaks) without providing the details of these treatments. It is suggested that ‘five types of vegetation treatment activities are proposed for implementation, but no specific details are given as to how decisions will be made in the three vegetation treatment types to select one or more of the vegetation treatment activities. More specificity is needed to access the environmental impacts and the potential effectiveness of the vegetation treatment activities.
The Claremont Canyon Conservancy and UC Professor Joe McBride collaborate, by Jon Kaufman
Members of the conservancy’s board of directors spent much of the past summer working with UC Berkeley Forestry Professor Emeritus Joe McBride developing a plan to manage vegetation in Strawberry and Claremont canyons. I am pleased to report that Joe’s plan is now available at www.claremontcanyon.org/fuel-management-proposal. We urge UC to follow the plan as it is the standard for how to minimize the damage of a future wildfire.
Slide show chronicles wildfire history in East Bay Hills, by Jerry Kent
Click on the image for a self-guided slide show. Contact us for a presentation with this slide show.
UC awarded $3.6 million grant for its Hill Campus by Jerry Kent
After more than a decade of disappointments in its failure to obtain funding to assist with vegetation management and wildfire protection, the University of California is once again hopeful as it has been awarded a $3.6 million grant from Cal Fire.
UC’s Grant Proposal to Cal Fire: The University of California at Berkeley proposes to treat vegetation in 250 acres in its Hill Campus (upper parts of Strawberry and Claremont canyons) to reduce wildfire hazard to its buildings and nearby homes, targeting areas forested with “flammable eucalyptus and high fuel volume.” UC will also create defensible space within 100 feet of roads, fire-trails, buildings, and homes and increase the reliability of the 150 KV transmission line that supplies power the campus and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Living up to our commitment, by L. Tim Wallace
The Conservancy is busy on several fronts—living up to our commitment to be vigilant about wildfire safety while encouraging a healthy native environment in Claremont Canyon. Unfortunately, wildfire danger continues to be a major issue as fire season is becoming a year round concern. Public agencies are unable to devote the financial and human resources necessary to address it.
Screening of the movie “Bring Back the Oaks,” by Janis Bankoff
On June 6, 2016, at Hiller Highlands Country Club, the Conservancy hosted the premier screening of the film “Bring Back the Oaks: Managing vegetation to reduce fire risk in the East Bay Hills.” Inspired by the controversy surrounding the FEMA grants for wildfire hazard mitigation, and in an effort to address public concerns, the making of the film was co-sponsored by the Sierra Club and the Conservancy, with a grant from the Sustainability, Parks, Recycling and Wildlife Legal Defense Fund.
