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Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve—Eucalyptus Removal is Underway by Marilyn Goldhaber

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Conservancy member Ron Berman (standing in the middle with white hat) led Conservancy board members last week on a tour of work in the upper part of the eucalyptus grove at the Stonewall Road entry to the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve.

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.

Update on the Garber Park Stewards this summer and fall, 2021, by Wyllie Clayson

This summer was a success as the Garber Park Stewards welcomed back many new and returning volunteers to the heavily wooded, 14-acre, City of Oakland park at the bottom of Claremont Canyon. Our volunteers showed up full of energy and ready to help out with ongoing efforts during this drought year to make the park more firesafe, especially near residences.

Thirtieth Anniversary of the Firestorm

This fall marked the 30th anniversary of the 1991 Tunnel Fire, also known as the Oakland Hills Firestorm. This devastating wildfire began on October 19, 1991 as a small brush fire that was quickly put out, only to revive again the next morning with a surge of strong Diablo wind. Embers still hot from the previous day flared into flames that whipped through dry brush into pines and other dry vegetation and then to homes surrounded by eucalyptus groves at the wildland-urban edge, completely overwhelming fire personnel tending the scene.

Monarch butterflies take flight, by Marilyn Goldhaber

It is always a delight to see a West Coast Monarch as it heads from the mountains across the state and down the coast to winter refuges like Santa Cruz and San Diego. Photographer Erica Rutherford was lucky to come across her butterfly seen resting on a butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii). Overwintering habitats are increasingly compromised and fewer individuals of this once common species were observed last year, which was concerning to nature lovers and butterfly watchers.

Find Your Weather

Now that you’ve repacked your go bag and supplies in your vehicle—that’s off-street, if possible, and pointing towards the street—you can follow, in real time, our local weather: windspeed, temperature, and humidity from a state-sponsored sensor located at the top of Claremont Canyon near the intersection of Fish Ranch and Claremont Avenue. You can also find local air quality from PurpleAir. There are privately placed sensors all over the hills and elsewhere. One is near the intersection of Alvarado Road and Claremont Avenue.

From Elizabeth Stage, vice-chair of the North Hills Community Association and a Claremont Canyon Conservancy board member.

Tree of Hope ceremony October 20, 2021, by Russ and Annette Aubry

October 20 Tree of Hope:

The Russ and Annette Aubry invite their neighbors in the Oakland Hills who lost their homes in 1991 or new owners who have moved into homes in the fire zone area to join at their private property on Grizzly Peak Boulevard. The Aubry’s have been lighting the “Tree of Hope” for 29 years to remember family and friends that perished in the fire. It is a reminder that “we will not forget” all the lives that have been lost in California fires.


Conservancy Files Brief in Alameda County Superior Court, by Jon Kaufman

Supporting Increased Vegetation Management in UC’s Hill Campus

Our brief was filed on August 27, 2021. It states that UC’s Plan and EIR do not go far enough to assure adequate wildfire hazard reduction, siting the additional work that UC must do.

Fuel levels must be reduced beyond what UC proposes if the campus itself and the homes located nearby are to be spared in a future wildfire

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Evacuation on my mind, by Sue Piper, Chair Oakland Firesafe Council

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Now, 30 years after the 1991 Firestorm and three years after the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people on the one road out of Paradise, evacuation is on many people’s minds. The problem, as I learned in 1991, is that in a crisis, you think with your gut. Oh, if we only had opportunities to practice evacuation many times over so that when the real threat appears, our minds know exactly what to do.

The Hermit Thrush, by Marilyn Goldhaber

The Hermit Thrush is a medium-small brownish bird with spotted breast, white eyering, and pink legs. Although it prefers a dense cover, it can be found in urban settings, especially on the border of forests. The bird pictured to the right was photographed in November by Erica Rutherford in her backyard at Hiller Highlands—the photograph then posted to Kay Loughman’s local wildlife gallery (nhwildlife.net).

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