Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Nicholas J. Calderon, Parks Director
Subject: San Mateo County Parks Department's Wildfire Fuel Management Program's 5-Year Priority Project List and Cost Estimates
RECOMMENDATION:
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Accept the San Mateo County Parks Department's Wildfire Fuel Management Program's 5-Year Priority Project List and Cost Estimates.
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BACKGROUND:
The San Mateo County Parks Department ("Department") manages 24 parks, recreation areas, and historic sites that collectively comprise over 16,000 acres of land. These parklands, which contain a diversity of vegetation communities with varying degrees of vegetation density, are mostly located within or in proximity to the wildland-urban interface. For this reason, they pose a significant risk for the spread of wildfire, as was seen when the August 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fires burned through Pescadero Creek County Park.
As a result of last year's fire, the Department developed its Wildfire Fuel Management Program ("Program"). The Department designed the Program to assist its fuel management efforts in three innovative ways. First, it serves as a planning and budgeting tool. By scheduling the treatment and retreatment of high-threat areas over a 5-year period, the Department can ensure it is properly assigning staff and financial resources to the planning, permitting, treatment, and retreatment of wildfire mitigation projects. Second, the Program provides a basis by which the Department can best and most efficiently identify, evaluate, and prioritize critical projects that mitigate threats to life and property based on best available data and practices. Third, through the Program, the Department is able to better monitor the condition of treated areas and adapt maintenance strategies accordingly.
Because of prior land management practices, there is a significant amount of high-risk wildfire fuel within...
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