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November 2011
PARKS & PARTNERS
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Homestead Valley to Get $40K! Homestead Valley, an unincorporated community near Mill Valley, has been working proactively to manage fuel on 90 acres of public open space which borders approximately 1,200 households. In 2009, they had great accomplishment passing a local parcel assessment to fund community improvements, including a fuels management program designed to keep trails clear and the forest understory open. Their ability to provide matching funds has brought more funding their way, as they were just preliminarily approved for a USDA Forest Service cost share grant through the California Fire Safe Council.
Planning assistance from the NPS Fuels Program and a demonstration project completed by the Tam Fire Crew has helped launch this far-reaching program. With a committment to annual fuel reduction -- not just a one-time clean up-- this program is destined for success. See photos above. BANNER PHOTOS: Top: Tam Fire Crew and NPS Fuels Crew thinning eucalyptus on public lands managed by the Homestead Valley Land Trust near Golden Gate NRA. Below: Panoramic view of work completed by the Tam Fire Crew in the Upper Ridgewood area of Homestead Valley. --photos by Tim Walsh, Tam Fire Crew Supt. |
Highlight: McCurdy Prescribed Fire
Completed October 20, 2011 -- Most of the 76 acres burned in the McCurdy Prescribed Fire this year has been burned five other times since 1996. This burn unit is one of nearly 20 treatment units within the Highway One Fuelbreak. The target burn rotation in this fuelbreak is every other year to reduce the invasive French broom population and mainatin open grasslands in between densely forested areas on Bolinas Ridge and Inverness Ridge. Without treatment, these grasslands would develop into shrubland and forest with higher fuel loads and more difficult access for firefighting.
Fire effects monitoring shows that a combination of mowing and burning is successfully keeping the number of French broom plants far lower than pre-treatment levels. French broom threatens ecosystems throughough California, including the adjacent Marin Municipal Water District and private lands.
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Forest Health -- New Research
Bishop pine forest
Spatial variability in stand structure and density-dependent mortality in newly established post-fire stands of a California closed-cone pine forest
Harvey et al. 2011. Forest Ecology and Management (more...)
Redwood and Douglas-fir forests
Sudden oak death disease progression across two forest types and spatial scales
Ramage et al. 2011. Journal of Vegetation Science ( more...)
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PHOTO: Tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflora) © 2004 by Kim Cabrera, courtesy of CalPhotos. Tanoak acorns were a vital food source to Native Americans along the California coast. Prescribed fire was used traditionally in many places to prepare for the acorn harvest. Today, tanoaks are declining due to Sudden Oak Death. Research efforts are trying to understand the many effects this will have on coastal ecosystems.
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