The Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaborative held a tour for media and legislative representatives in the Lexington Hills last month to highlight the work it’s doing to create a fire resilient Santa Clara County. The Collaborative is made up of several agencies, including Midpen, whose goal is to support healthier forests that are resilient to wildland fire and climate change.
The tour was hosted on land owned by the San Jose Water Company, where redwood trees still showed burn scars from the 1985 Lexington fire. As news reporters, elected representatives and staff from Midpen, San Jose Water Company, Santa Clara County Parks and the Santa Clara FireSafe Council stood in the middle of the forest and looked up at the trees, they had the opportunity to learn about the ecologically sensitive way the Collaborative is preparing the forest for future fires.
Crews are adding shaded fuel breaks and removing small diameter trees to mimic the long-suppressed natural fire regime across the Santa Cruz Mountains, according to Santa Clara FireSafe Council Project Manager Stephen Harrington.
“But before those treatments, we have biologists conduct surveys to ensure crews are not disturbing nesting birds or an endangered species like the California red-legged frog,” Harrington continued.
The Collaborative hopes to be able to use pile and prescribed burns as a tool where appropriate in future phases of the project. The forest health work being conducted by the Collaborative is funded by Cal Fire grants awarded to the FireSafe Council totaling $14.4 million dollars. These forest health grants are being used to treat a total of approximately 1,900 acres of land by 2027.
Currently, more than 700 acres have been treated, including more than 200 within Midpen preserves including at Bear Creek Redwoods, Sierra Azul and Long Ridge open space preserves. By 2027, nearly 400 acres of Midpen land will be treated.
“This work will increase biodiversity and resilience while reducing risk for communities,” Harrington said.