Wildland Fire Resiliency

In 2020, Midpen joined together with the San Jose Water Company, Santa Clara County FireSafe Council and Santa Clara County Parks to form the Los Gatos Creek Watershed Collaborative. This group was brought together to take a holistic look at forest health over nearly 1,000 acres in the Los Gatos Creek Watershed, which includes portions of Bear Creek Redwoods and Sierra Azul Open Space Preserves.

Funded in part through CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program, the collaborative is working together to meet forest health and wildfire fuel management goals through understory thinning, removal of dead and dying trees and control of invasive species.

Crews will move between sites and across agency borders to proactively manage environmentally sensitive vegetation, reduce wildland fire risk and facilitate fire suppression.

This strategic fire management work at Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve was planned in partnership with the Los Altos Hills Fire Department. The project is expected to run through 2025 along the Chamise Trail from the Rhus Ridge Trail junction to the Ravensberry Trail junction. The work area will generally follow close to the ridgeline, where fuel breaks are most effective, and will include reducing brush, small trees and any dead vegetation in an ecologically sensitive manner to protect native plants and wildlife in the area. 

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As part of the Santa Cruz kangaroo rat Research and Adaptive Management project and the Los Gatos Creek Watershed Forest Health Project, crews are conducting road side vegetation removal within prime kangaroo rat habitat in Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, Work will occur in a closed area of the preserve, beginning in the summer of 2024.

This work provides multiple benefits:

• By removing the root structures, the soil is being aerated.
• This creates a looser soil surface, critical for kangaroo rats to cache seeds and create burrows.
• The decrease in roadside vegetation also removes potential wildfire fuels. 
• Removal or knobcone pines will allow for manzanita species to flourish.

Midpen staff are performing vegetation management work at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve in the area surrounding Rapley Ranch Road and Highway 35 emergency escape route, as seen on the map below. The 7.5 acre site was identified as an important fuel treatment area for ecosystem resiliency as the area is experiencing vegetation encroachment that is changing the fuel regime and vegetation type. The work is expected to be completed by the end of September 2024. 

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Starting in September, crews will begin restoring an old Christmas tree farm site to more natural conditions by removing most of the planted Douglas-firs and implementing erosion control measures. The trees were planted closely together but never harvested, leading to a dense, unhealthy grouping of trees with little diversity and growth in the understory. This work is located within a closed area of the preserve and is expected to wrap up by November 15, before nesting bird season begins.

The ultimate long-term goal is to transform the area back into a native oak woodland featuring species like coast live oak, California black oak, tanoak, redwood and Pacific madrone.

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Beginning as early as September, crews will work to remove non-native eucalyptus trees and install erosion control measures in the Cathedral Oaks area of Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve. Work is ongoing across approximately 2.5 acres. The site will eventually be restored to a native riparian forest.

The site features minimal native plant understory, which provides low-quality wildlife habitat and exhibits low wildland fire resiliency. Eucalyptus leaves and bark contain volatile oils that ignite easily and burn intensely. Additionally, the trees shed a significant amount of dry bark, leaves and twigs, contributing to fuel loads on the forest floor that can fuel wildfires.

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Though wildland fires seldom start in Midpen preserves, our staff work year-round to prevent, prepare for and respond to fire by: 

• Maintaining hundreds of miles of fuel breaks and fire roads throughout our preserves, some of which are used as emergency ingress and egress routes for neighbors.
• Annually training Midpen field staff as fire first responders
• Outfitting ranger trucks with water pumpers during fire season
• Reducing vegetation using conservation grazing on more than 6,500 acres on the San Mateo County Coast
• Enforcing regulations against smoking, fires and guns in the preserves

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CZU Lightning Complex Fire

In August, 2020, fire-trained Midpen ranger and maintenance staff assisted Cal Fire in holding the north fire line at Old Haul Road, preventing the fire from reaching Midpen preserves and Skyline-area communities and beyond.

The lightning storm that sparked the CZU fire, also ignited four small fires on Midpen land that fire-trained ranger and maintenance staff quickly located and extinguished. 

Hear directly from staff about their experience on the CZU fire line in this presentation given at a special public meeting of the Midpen board of directors on October 28, 2020.

Fire is a fact of life in California and everyone plays a role in living safely with it. More than 95% of wildland fires in California are caused by human activities, according to Cal Fire.

Do your part to prevent and prepare for fire by: 

• Hardening your home against fire, create defensible space around it and have an evacuation plan 
• Signing up for county emergency alerts.
• Recreating safely to prevent fires and so emergency resources are available to respond to fires: stay cool and bring plenty of water, or consider other plans.
• Stay aware of red flag warning weather when fire danger is highest and refraining from activities that could spark fires.  

Helpful Resources

CAL FIRE’s Ready for Wildfire website 

San Mateo County Fire Safe Council

San Mateo County emergency alerts

Santa Clara County Fire Safe Council

Santa Clara County emergency alerts

For those who choose to live in the wildland-urban interface, creating defensible space and hardening your home are some of the most important things you can do to protect your property.

Neighbors can apply here for a free permit allowing you to reduce vegetation on Midpen land, within 100 feet of occupied structures, to create defensible space around your home.

Application Process

1. Obtain a free fire hazard inspection from your local fire agency.
2. Fill out this online form.
3. Midpen staff will schedule a site visit with you to discuss your project and program details.

Program Details

• The occupied structure should be in compliance with applicable planning, building, and zoning laws.
• Applicants and contractors must have general liability insurance and any required licenses.
• Cost of vegetation removal and any required environmental review are the applicant's responsibility.

Other requirements may be identified in the permit for consistency with Midpen’s resource management policies and practices.

Defensible Space Resources

Check with your local fire department for additional information about defensible space.

• CAL FIRE 
• Santa Clara County Fire
• San Mateo County Fire
• Woodside Fire Protection District

Questions? Contact Midpen at 650-691-1200 or info@openspace.org.