Oakland

August Happenings 2024

A juvenile hawk was spotted taking a bath! The Conservancy has moved into a new era. We recently celebrated a successful fundraising drive where we raised $40,000. Keep Oakland Wildfire Safe Committee has a goal to do everything possible to pass the Wildfire Prevention Zone ballot measure on November 5th. Learn more about how you can get involved and other volunteer opportunities in the Canyon.

Oakland Honors Park Volunteers by Nancy Mueller and Elizabeth Stage

On February 3rd, District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran held an event at the Joaquin Miller Community Center to honor organizations and volunteers from thirteen parks in her district.

Introducing the Oakland community preparedness and response program by Doug Mosher

In light of continued wildfire and earthquake disaster threats to Oakland, the Oakland Firesafe Council has begun a new program called Oakland Community Preparedness and Response (OCPR). The program, which launched in September, will help citizens and groups in the Oakland hills and foothills—both high- risk areas due to the “very high-hazard wild fire zone” at the Wildland-Urban Interface and the 120-mile-long major earthquake zone along the Hayward Fault—to prepare for these threats. The goal is to bring about fewer injuries and deaths and lower financial losses in the event of a major disaster, such as a wild re or earthquake.

Roadside clearing by Nancy Mueller

This season the Oakland vegetation management unit, under the leadership of the incomparable Vince Crudele, made significant progress in reducing vegetation on city and public roadside properties. Major thoroughfares in our area include Tunnel Road, Skyline Boulevard, Grizzly Peak Boulevard, Hiller Drive, Clarewood Drive, Panoramic Way, and Claremont Avenue. I’m pleased to say that Oakland is doing its job in the hills along major roads and near open spaces.

Oakland reconsiders vegetation management in biennial budget, by Elizabeth K. Stage

Oakland’s current $4 million funding level for vegetation management, for which the Conservancy and other local organizations lobbied hard, will need our support again soon. In February, the city’s finance director, Katano Kasaine, told the City Council that these funds, to be spread over two years, were a “onetime appropriation” and thus were not included in the baseline budget.

President's Message: Oakland steps up to the plate, by L. Tim Wallace

I can now say with confidence that all three FEMA-funded grants—Oakland’s, the Park District’s and UC’s—are set to move forward. Thanks to excellent media coverage, the public is now better informed about the need for wildfire prevention projects and better understands the responsibility that comes with providing a safer environment for all. 

Touring the urban-wildland interface with Oakland Deputy Fire Chief James Edwards, by Bill McClung

For about two miles along the southern and western edges of Claremont Canyon, nearly a thousand houses and private properties directly face about a hundred acres of wildlands. The management of these undeveloped lands owned by the Regional Park District, City of Oakland, and private landowners could determine whether firefighters can successfully keep future wildland fires from engulfing whole neighborhoods in minutes.