Four years of exceptional drought has led to drought stressed trees and tinder dry fuels.  We recently watched in horror as the Valley Fire, in neighboring Lake County, burned 40,000 acres in just a 24 hour period!  Many residents barely escaped the flames with their lives, only to find afterward that their homes and businesses had burned to the ground.  At the Preserve we continue to do our part to reduce fuel loads and make our forests as resilient as possible against devastating forest fires. This year we partnered with the California Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to continue work on establishing a continuous network of shaded fuel breaks on the Preserve.  A Shaded Fuel Break is where we keep the big trees for shade, prune up any dead branches along the trunk to keep a fire from climbing up into the canopy, and then thin out the smaller trees and shrubs. Working in remote and rugged terrain, the CCC was able to establish an additional 17 acres of fuel break along our east ridge.  After each physically demanding day of work, the CCC crews had the opportunity to camp out on the Preserve and enjoy a night under the stars.

Recently our neighbors over in Muniz Ranches (on the northwest) and the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians (on the northeast) have taken up the challenge, and have begun establishing Shaded Fuel Breaks on their property that will connect to our network.  By creating a network of fuel breaks across the Preserve and our region, we hope to better manage wildfires and protect forest ecosystems as well as human lives and property.

We are excited to say that we are one step closer to obtaining approval to construct our Highway 1 parking lot.  The parking area will be the gateway to the Headlands, allowing visitors to explore the Preserve on their own, and free of charge, dawn to dusk.  

Last year we conducted pre-consultation with all the permitting agencies and in May of this year we submitted our application to build a 30-space parking lot adjacent to Highway 1.  Information in our application contained the results of various surveys and assessments, which included: wildlife surveys, botanical surveys, wetland surveys, soil and geologic surveys, archaeological surveys, topographic surveys, hydrologic surveys, a visual analysis, a traffic analysis and assessment, as well as results from our years of community outreach.  Since submission of our application, we have been working with the Sonoma County Permit and Resources Management Department, Army Corps of Engineers, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, CalTrans, State Parks, and the State Historic Preservation Office, to obtain final approval of our plans. We are now getting down to the nitty-gritty details, making sure we achieve regulatory compliance and provide the public a safe location to access to the Preserve.  We hope to have the permits in hand by the end of this year and break ground on construction next year.