Completed Coal Creek Preserve Project Highlights Expanding Vegetation Management
Updated 2/6/2025
In 2021 Midpen completed a 2.5-mile shaded fuel break in our Coal Creek Preserve along Skyline Boulevard with the California Conservation Corps, which illustrates the types of projects we implement to improve ecological health, wildland fire resilience and safety. This winter, we're returning to maintain it.
Not long after this project was completed, a small fire started by a noninjury vehicle accident on Page Mill Road near Skyline Boulevard spread into Midpen’s Coal Creek Open Space Preserve. Midpen rangers were first on scene and began emergency response. A Cal Fire helicopter stopped the forward spread with several water drops. Midpen maintenance staff provided Midpen’s water tender to support Cal Fire firefighters on the ground, who were able to put the fire out before it reached half an acre.
Had the fire continued 500 feet further into the preserve, it would have reached the shaded fuel break, designed to stop or slow potential fires, keep them on the ground and provide firefighters with a place to take a stand. Midpen's science-based prioritization process identified this area for treatment due to its proximity to other vegetation management projects that it could help build upon and enhance, its location near Page Mill Road which is an important emergency community evacuation route and at the recommendation of local fire agencies.
The Coal Creek Preserve shaded fuel break was thankfully not needed in that instance due to the favorable weather conditions and quick work by first responders, including Midpen staff, but it was in place and ready to help keep this and any potential roadside fires from reaching Skyline Boulevard.
Before work begins on any Midpen project, biologists survey for, map and flag areas needing extra protection for sensitive plants and wildlife. At Coal Creek, this included wood rat nests and a population of rare popcorn flowers.
Using hand and mechanical work, and prioritizing non-native and invasive plants and trees, California Conservation Corps crews spent 14 weeks in 2021 clearing dense brush from tree groves, removing low and hanging tree limbs and mowing along existing roads and trails in the preserve.
This project was a high priority in CalFire’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan and was supported by San Mateo County Supervisor Don Horsley, San Mateo Resource Conservation District, South Skyline FireSafe Council and a Proposition 68 grant.