Oakland’s long-awaited Vegetation Management Plan tackles decades of wildfire concerns
Herbicides and prescribed burning are some of the techniques on the table for the new plan, but funding may make implementation difficult. The long-awaited Vegetation Management Plan, passed in Oakland, aims to reduce the risk of wildfires in Oakland's "Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone" in the area. The plan includes goat grazing, tree felling, and the targeted use of herbicides to reduce wildfire risk. While the plan is largely supported, it will require sufficient funding to ensure it can be implemented. This will likely require a special tax, likely to appear on the November ballot, which would require a two-thirds majority to pass. Elizabeth Stage, president of the Oakland Fire Safe Council, vice chair of the North Hills Community Association, and a community organizing committee member, said the plan's implementation is essential. The city's first attempt at funding for vegetation and wildlife concerns in 2013 failed due to concerns over the city's lack of a clear plan.
प्रकाशित : तीन सप्ताह पहले द्वारा Callie Rhoades में Environment
The 1991 firestorm that tore through the Oakland hills, killing 25 people and destroying more than 3,000 homes, left a lasting mark on those who lived through it.
More than three decades later, the memories of the fire still haunt the residents of the hills. And they haunt the city’s long-awaited Vegetation Management Plan, which was passed on May 21. It is Oakland’s blueprint for ensuring something like 1991 never happens again.
The plan is specifically designed to reduce the risk of wildfires on over 1,900 acres and 308 miles of city property and roadway in Oakland’s so-called “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.” It lays out several management techniques, among them goat grazing, tree felling, and the targeted use of herbicides.
Wildfire awareness and proper vegetation management are matters of urgent concern for Californians living in and around high-risk areas. In 2023, CalFire reported 7,127 wildfires in the state. This year, the department has already seen over 1,500 wildfires.
While the plan is largely supported, it will require sufficient funding to ensure it can be properly implemented. That money most likely will need to come from a special tax that is poised to appear on the November ballot.
Living on the edge of a wildfire zone
The Oakland hills are a prime example of a community at severe risk of a catastrophic fire. The hills sit on what is known as the wildland-urban interface, an area where the built environment meets the natural environment. As peoples and cities expand into nature, these interface areas become more and more vulnerable to a wildfire incident.
Sections of the hills are considered to be in “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones.” This determination is made by the state and is dependent on a variety of factors, including vegetation type, fire history, climate, and proximity to urban areas, among other factors.
If a wildfire were to catch and carry in the hills, the population density, vegetation level, and scale of the hills would make it particularly difficult to manage. Many residents would require evacuation.
Elizabeth Stage saw firsthand the devastation wrought on the area by the 1991 fire and has since become involved in efforts to mitigate wildfire risks. Today, she is the president of the Oakland Fire Safe Council, vice chair of the North Hills Community Association, and a community organizing committee member of the East Bay Hills Wildfire Prevention and Vegetation Management Joint Powers Agency Formation Committee.
“We are interested—like everyone else—in saving the lives of our families,” said Stage, who has been living in the Oakland hills for decades.
In 2013, the city made its first attempt at trying to bring in funding to address vegetation and wildlife concerns, through a special tax measure that was placed on the ballot. That ballot measure failed, in large part due to concerns over the city’s lack of a clear plan. This sparked the beginning of the work on the Vegetation Management Plan.
The first draft of the plan was released for public review in 2018. It went through several iterations, and community members like Stage gave intensive feedback every step of the way. While Stage said that there are still things that she and other community members “would like to see more of,” she is generally happy with the final version–a nearly 600-page document that she termed the best of all the drafts she has seen over the years.
But Stage and others in her organization recognize that there is one significant barrier to the plan’s implementation.
“The missing ingredient from all this is sources of funding,” said Stage.
The renewed proposal of a special tax would be a $99-a-year parcel tax on only those living in the “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.” The tax would allow for exceptions for low-income residents and seniors. It would need a two-thirds majority to pass.
“I think that the importance of the special tax really comes in to be able to fund this plan,” said Janani Ramachandran, councilmember for District 4, where many residents live in high-risk zones. “We’re slowly piecing together the funding that will actually, in my opinion, be able to enact a Vegetation Management Plan to its full effect”
The Oakland City Council will be voting in the coming weeks on whether to place the special tax on the November ballot. Hunt said the plan is not fully dependent on passing the tax measure. If it failed, the city would have to seek out additional and alternative sources of funding, including money from the city’s general fund as well as grants from the state.
‘It is certainly more than what we are doing now’
The Vegetation Management Plan lays out a clear guideline for how the city will approach vegetation management in the hills, what techniques will be best for various landscapes, and what areas it will prioritize. Cost scenarios are detailed–the current estimated average cost is $1.6 million a year–as are measures to ensure environmental health.
According to Michael Hunt, chief of staff for the Oakland Fire Department, the comprehensive and clear nature of the plan provides order to an often chaotic system.
“The city of Oakland can be extremely unpredictable,” Hunt said. “This plan gives us a level of predictability for how we approach wildfire prevention.”
Outside input was vital in the construction of the plan. The city had numerous conversations with environmental groups, wildfire prevention advocates like Stage, and other experts. An early draft laid out plans to clear brush within 30 feet of a roadway. But community members felt that was insufficient. After more discussion and additional environmental reviews, the margin for clearing brush was expanded to within 100 feet of a roadway.
“I wouldn’t say [it’s] enough, but it is certainly more than what we are doing now,” Jon Kaufman, president of the Claremont Canyon Conservancy, said about the plan.
Kaufman also lived through the 1991 fires—one of the fire trucks fighting the wildfire was stationed in his front yard—and he has since been involved in efforts to reduce hazards for the hills.
While Kaufman lives in Berkeley, he has watched Oakland’s vegetation management planning closely as “wildfires don’t stop at city lines.” Kaufman said that while the plan isn’t as comprehensive as he would have liked, he is happy to have the city start to implement a clear strategy.
Some concerns have been raised over the environmental impacts that the plan could have on surrounding species.
The final plan allows crews to use the non-Roundup version of the herbicide glyphosate—a chemical that has been linked to health and environmental issues—but the document does detail a strategy for how and when the herbicides will be used to reduce any risk of environmental damage.
The plan does include a number of mitigation measures. For example, crews cannot use herbicides within 60 feet of streams; within 100 feet of a habitat for Presidio clarkia, an endangered plant species; or within certain days leading up to or after heavy rainfall.
These measures are designed to reduce any potential negative impacts on the surrounding flora, fauna, and communities. The plan also includes photos and descriptions of special status species that crews need to be mindful of, including the California red-legged frog and the western pond turtle.
विषय: Wildfires, Environment-ESG