PC to discuss
county vegetation
management plan
By Joe
Naiman
The Alpine Sun
ALPINE — The August 22 meeting of
the county’s Planning Commission will likely see the commission
make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on a proposed
vegetation management plan for the county.
An update on the vegetation management plan was heard
by the Planning Commission Aug. 8 as a director’s report, but
concerns over the effectiveness of the plan led to the five
commissioners present that day to support having the issue
return as an action item.
“Let’s find the right solution to the problem,” said
Planning Commissioner Michael Beck.
Beck noted that most of the October 2007 fires were caused by
downed power lines while the cause of most of the lost homes
from those fires was Santa Ana winds.
“I’m just wondering how this strategy would address
either of these,” Beck said. “We’re not addressing the
fundamental cause.”
While Commissioner Adam Day recognized that land use
planning, building standards, and other factors share importance
with vegetation management, he also noted that vegetation
management was one of the tools needed and that a vegetation
management plan could be implemented with other standards.
“This one aspect of firefighting can be addressed in a
comprehensive document,” he said. “What’s on the ground now
presents a huge risk.”
The May 14 meeting of the San Diego County Board of
Supervisors directed county staff to develop a comprehensive
vegetation management program to be incorporated into the land
management plans for all existing and future county-owned lands,
and directed the county’s Chief Administrative Officer to return
to the supervisors within 90 days to present such a plan that
would include mechanical, biological, and prescribed burns. The
supervisors’ Summer recess extended the 90-day period, and the
supervisors’ hearing is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 24.
The San Diego Forest Area Safety Task Force is
assisting county staff in developing the vegetation management
plan, and by the supervisors’ June 25 hearing the task force had
released a fuels assessment map, which identified the 10
highest-priority areas.
The top projects to be considered, in order of
priority, are Palomar Mountain, the Laguna East I-8 Corridor,
Southeast County, Greater Julian, San Luis Rey West, Rancho (Penasquitos/Bernardo/Santa
Fe), Santa Margarita, Northeast County Warners, and Cuyamaca-Laguna.
The project boundaries of those areas total 842,187 acres.
The first preliminary draft of the vegetation
management plan was released July 24.
“We’re at the very early stages of developing that
plan,” said county Department of Planning and Land Use interim
deputy director Jeff Murphy.
If the draft plan’s outline is approved, the plan’s
four sections will begin with an introduction, which includes
the county’s fire history. The second section will address fuel
management tools including hand cutting, goats and other
masticators, and prescribed burns. The third section outlines
plans for the priority areas, while the fourth section will
contain recommendations and next steps.
The draft plan also includes a priority matrix based on
population, escape routes, safe zones, the fuel hazard based on
fuel load as well as age and type of fuel, the risk of ignition,
the amount of infrastructure, and the need to manipulate the
fire cycle to maintain ecological value.
Murphy noted that the plan wasn’t limited to controlled
burns. “It’s also hand clearing. It’s also mechanical clearing,”
he said.
Wildland interface policies and building standards are
already in place for new development, so the vegetation
management plan is more oriented toward protecting existing
structures.
Beck hopes that the supervisors will allow additional
time. “This timeline sounds completely unrealistic to me,” he
said. “This has long-term, long-ranging, very significant
implications to the entire wildland areas of San Diego, and it’s
on the fast track.”
Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League told the
Planning Commission that the lessons learned from the October
2007 fires emphasized structure safety. “We are not
incorporating lessons from the 2007 fires,” he said. “The draft
proposal will divert scarce dollars away from things that really
do work.”
Landscape contractor Greg Rubin specializes in native
plants and has yet to lose a home to fire. “Native plants can
possess unparalleled fire resistance,” he said.
Planning Commissioner David Kreitzer noted that a Sept.
24 Board of Supervisors action would not allow for
implementation during the 2008 fire season and that more
preparation would still allow the plan to be implemented by
Spring 2009.
“Just a vegetation management program itself I don’t
think is going to be sufficient,” Kreitzer said.
Day noted that a comprehensive plan would include a vegetation
management component. “I think it’s going to benefit everybody,”
he said.
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