Paradise Forest Management Plan
A Plan Towards Sustained Recovery
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Though we built a city in the forest, the natural processes remained at work.
One of those processes is fire.
Amid the ashes some resilient forests and houses survived.
Here is what we've learned....
Wildfire's are driven by two factors: Wind and Fuel
In a wind-driven fire, where embers blow extreme distances, sometimes miles from the fire front, the question isn't 'Will my property catch fire?', but 'How resilient is my property when it does catch fire'?
Even in a heavily treated landscape with limited understory fuels, trees had fire scorch reach over 6 feet in height on the trees. Emphasizing the need for pruning to raise the canopy. [Picture color enhanced for clarity]
Wind-driven fires take a small amount of fuel and combines it with wind to make a blast furnace. Defensible space reduces the fire intensity on your trees and your home, but by itself, it's not enough.
The Safeway on Clark Road had good defensible space with inflammable blacktop and a lack of dense fuels surrounding the building. Embers resulting from the wind-driven fire were the likely cause of ignition and ultimately lead to the building burning down. This should illustrate how hardening buildings to reduce ignitions is as important as reducing fuels.
The following slides are of two properties on the same street and separated by a single lot. The first slide shows a home tucked away behind a wall of greenery. The second slide shows a home visible from the street, with an irrigated lawn and a lack of highly flammable material surrounding it. As you read though the rest of this document, ask yourself why only one home is still standing.
Dense vegetation surrounding homes often lead to the combustion of the home. [Photo left is pre-Camp Fire, photo right is post-Camp Fire]
Homes that weren't hidden in vegetation, had irrigated lawns, and separation from highly combustible and hot burning materials had a better chance of survival. [Photo left is pre-Camp Fire, photo right is post-Camp Fire]
Resilient Urban Forests
Contain both 'Hardened Homes' and managed forests with defensible space.
But what do we do with all the area where we are starting over from scratch?
Natural processes created the forests we loved and then destroyed them when things got out of balance
Designing the homes we are rebuilding and the forests we are replanting to exist in balance with the fire and weather we can't control takes understanding.
There will always be fire on the landscape. We can't always control when and where but we can be prepared.
Forest Stewardship
"-An approach to management that meets the needs of the current owners but does not detract or degrade the use by future generations."
Much of what we do in forestry is based on an understanding that the decisions we make favor or discourage certain ecological functions. This is true whether we actively manage the land to meet a desired goal and objective, mitigate the effects of a disturbance, or let the natural processes continue with limited human involvement. In every instance, the decisions we make have consequences. As John Muir said, "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, they find it attached to the rest of the world."
Stewards of the land recognize the importance of defining management objectives that are socially, environmentally, and ecologically responsible and provide for multiple resources and uses of the land. The goals and objectives we create need to take into account that what we do today will impact tomorrow and that we are in fact planning for the next generation.
But today we find ourselves in a new world. We've fallen behind in our responsibilities as stewards of the land and have let our forests become overgrown and hazardous. As populations increase and people move further away from city centers and into forested communities, the responsibility of forest management has shifted.
Forest management and stewardship were once the responsibility of those who lived on and off the land. Indigenous tribes knew the importance of keeping fire on the landscape and keeping the forests from getting too wild. But times changed, fire was suppressed first, then forestry came to follow. Where forest management was once the responsibility of a district forestry office or maintained by a robust forestry industry, a shift has occurred in the later half of the past century. Red tape abounds and these responsibilities can no longer be maintained by just a few groups, no matter their size. Today, local advocate groups, small consultants and fire safe councils spearhead fuel reduction projects and secure grants to fund their project wish lists. But it's becoming ever more clear that this is still not even enough. Fire's rage across the state, often in places with some of the most influential and capable fire safe councils and forest management NGOs and corporations. It's slowly becoming apparent that no group of 10 to 20 individuals alone can manage the hundreds of thousands of acres and tens of thousands of individual, private parcels that make up the landscape. It's up to us, private landowners, individual parcels of a larger landscape, to come together, work with these groups and shape our world- to manage our land and protect what matters: Our community and our home.
What is a Forest Management Plan?
A forest management plan allows us to clearly outline the plans, goals and objectives for the land and its resources within our community. This Forest Management Plan is unique in that it was developed to inform and assist the general public as well as policy makers and guide us all through our roles and responsibilities in community forest management.
In the following sections you will find information that can help guide you through the rebuilding and reforesting of the Paradise community. The first few sections will provide a background on the town of Paradise, the ecological systems in which it sits and how fire has always and will always be an integral and unavoidable part of the Paradise landscape. The next sections will provide critical information on reforesting practices and home hardening recommendations and policies, as well as information on professional organizations that can help you protect your home and property. Finally, the last sections will present you with current and future fuels reduction projects throughout Paradise to help keep you up to date on what your Fire Safe Council is planning in your area and what to do in case there is another evacuation.
Paradise Ecosystems and Fire
Legend has it, Paradise was so named due to the natural beauty of the area. Sitting between 2,000 and 2,800 feet the town rests upon a prominent ridge within the Sierra Nevada foothills, flanked on the north by Butte Creek Canyon and on the south by the West Branch of the Feather River Canyon. This location is an ecological transition zone between the lower elevation grass dominant oak lands, upper elevation stands of ponderosa pine and mixed conifers, and the live oak-chaparral dominant canyons.
The Ecosystems of Paradise
In order to effectively recover from a disturbance as intense as the Camp Fire, we must understand what the natural ecology of the area is before we can determine the best ways to re-establish and rebuild the community.
According the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Wildlife Habitat Relationship Systems, Paradise sits within a transitional zone of many different ecosystems. In the lower elevations, oak dominated grasslands cover the rolling hills leading up towards the ridge, with foothill pine becoming a larger component as the elevation increases. As we move into the heart of town, the ecosystem begins to transition into more of a Sierran mixed-conifer vegetation type, with ponderosa pine dominating the lower elevations and south-facing slopes, and a heavier white fir, Douglas fir, sugar pine, incense cedar, and California black oak component beginning to develop along north facing slopes and higher elevations. Within the valleys and canyons surrounding Paradise, a chaparral system dominates with a mixture of manzanita, evergreen oaks, chamise, and ceanothus growing throughout. This ecosystem, consisting largely of brush and shrub species, is also capable of growing throughout the region and is an important component of understanding the current state of Paradise and where it is ultimately heading. It is vital that we understand what the landscape "wants" to be like so that we can more effectively and efficiently rebuild our community to one that can be more fire resilient.
When a large scale disturbance such as the Camp Fire occurs, the landscape and the vegetation on it reset. In ecology, a term called succession is used to describe the change in vegetation over time. Simply put, some plant species colonize an area quickly after a disturbance, while others take some time. The early successional species start occupying an area first through a stored seed bank, basal sprouting, or an easily dispersed seed source. The current situation in Paradise, with shrubs and brush becoming dominant in areas that were once heavily treed, is perfectly normal. Given time, the area would eventually turn back into the ponderosa pine and mixed conifer system that we all once knew. However, that would probably take 50 to 100 years without some intervention.
In the lower elevations (shown here in yellow), oak dominated grasslands cover the rolling hills leading up towards the ridge, with foothill pine becoming a larger component as the elevation increases.
This system tends to have a more open canopy, with ample light penetration on the usually grass dominated understory. Fire in these systems may move pretty quickly because of the fine fuels present on the ground, but they are traditionally lower intensity and can be managed more effectively with fuelbreaks and dozer lines.
Heavy grazing in these areas can keep the grass-based fuel accumulation low, but may also have a negative impact on oak regeneration.
As we move into the heart of town, the ecosystem begins to transition into more of a Sierran mixed-conifer vegetation type, with ponderosa pine dominating the lower elevations and south-facing slopes, and a heavier white fir, Douglas fir, sugar pine, incense cedar, and California black oak component beginning to develop along north facing slopes and higher elevations (shown here in green).
The trees in this system have undergone centuries of frequent fire regimes and, as a result, have developed traits that help increase their survivability. Thick insulating bark and self pruning limbs helped to keep the fire at a low severity and on the ground. Best practices for management in these systems is to keep your tree branches pruned to at least 10 feet above the ground and limit the amount of brush in the understory.
Within the valleys and canyons surrounding Paradise, a chaparral system dominates with a mixture of manzanita, evergreen oaks, chamise, and ceanothus. This ecosystem consisting largely of brush and shrub species is also capable of growing throughout the region and is an important component of understanding the current state of Paradise and where it is ultimately heading.
Unmanaged stands shown here can be major catalysts for wildfire, as the vegetation often has chemical compounds in their tissue that can increase the intensity of a fire. Although slow growing, once the leaves of adjacent plants begin to touch it creates a uniform accumulation of fuel that can drive fires quickly towards population centers.
These dense stands can also choke out tree regeneration. Properties along the valleys and canyons surrounding Paradise should consider keeping this shrub component to a minimum to allow for oak and pine regeneration.
Understanding the natural plant communities of Paradise lets us know what the landscape "wants" to be like. With this information we can more effectively and efficiently rebuild our community to one that is both aesthetically appealing and one that can be more fire resilient.
Role of Fire within the Region
Fire has been an integral part of California throughout the millennia. Being both a natural disturbance and a human tool, many plants developed adaptations over time to survive the frequent fire events.
California has a vast and diverse geography and a climate that is categorized as Mediterranean, with wet, cool winters and dry, hot summers. Due to the unique Californian climate and varying geographic and topographic regions, various fire regimes have evolved across the state, within which various plant species have become adapted. For instance, there is a difference between the fire-adaptations of a ponderosa pine/mixed-conifer forest, that may experience a more frequent, low-severity surface fire, and a chaparral stand that would experience less frequent but more severe crown fires.
Forested vegetation, like ponderosa pine or mixed-conifer stands, adapted to a more frequent fire-regime by outgrowing the surface fuels and maintaining a canopy above the flames and adapting thick, insulating bark and self-pruning lower limbs to reduce the likelihood of a surface fire getting into the canopy.
Canopy fires are extremely destructive and nearly impossible to control. Most fire planning goes into keeping the fire on the ground where emergency personnel can defend against it.
Although surface fires can cause small trees and shrubs to die and individual trees to torch, the overall lack of fuel and spacing between overstory trees helps keep the fire on the ground and at a low severity. In Paradise, ladder fuels, tree limbs and understory plants should be managed to keep fires out of the crown and on the ground.
Non-forested vegetation, such as a chaparral system shown here, tend to have adapted to rely on dormant seed banks and basal sprouting to survive wildfires. Because plants in this system are densely packed together when mature, a fire can quickly increase in intensity and burn the entire stand and all the crowns, effectively killing the above-ground portion of the plants.
The time between burns in these stands is longer than that of mixed-conifers or ponderosa pine stands, which gives chaparral plenty of time to regrow from basal sprouts or resprout from seed. In this system, constant removal of the plants through fire or mechanical means may eventually see these plants disappear altogether. A more ecologically responsible method of control may be to remove individual plants to keep some distance between existing crowns. This could slow the spread and reduce the intensity of the next fire, while helping to keep this important ecosystem alive and functional.
Fires are dynamic forces of nature whose behaviors tend to be controlled by the types and quantity of fuel involved, the wind strength and direction, and topography. Under normal conditions, and to an extent under abnormal conditions, fire behavior can generally be predicted by taking into account the factors stated above.
Native American populations understood this and used fire extensively as stewards of the land. Research from 2007 describes that between natural causes and indigenous populations, California ecosystems use to burn at a rate of approximately 4.4 million acres (1.8 million hectares) of land every year. Compare that to the 2020 season that had almost 4.2 million acres of land burned by wildfire and you begin to get an idea of how much the California ecosystems depend on fire.
By the turn of the 20th century, fire exclusion and suppression became the ethos of the nation. Several decades later, the suppression of timber harvesting practices on state and federal land also began to contribute to a massive buildup of fuels, all of which ultimately lead to our current forest conditions. Today, overstocked, densely vegetated forests burn with such intensity that the several millennia of fire-adaptations are largely incapable of withstanding the intense conflagrations we commonly see. Pair that with an increasing population and housing density within these forested systems and we can begin to understand the reasoning for the yearly destruction we all know too well.
This picture is of the 2020 Bear Fire. The density of the fuel and intensity of the winds during this wildfire contributed to the complete mortality seen here. Fires with this level of intensity and mortality often limit the amount of natural seed regeneration, as the intense heat production can kill tree's seeds that were present at the time. Without manual seed dispersion or planting of seedlings this stand will likely not see adequate tree regeneration for years or longer. Instead, brush and shrubs will likely dominate in the understory, further delaying any possible tree germination.
Fuel-dominated Fire vs Wind-dominated Fire
Under ideal, historic forest and climactic conditions, conflagrations would be fairly rare. However, the turn of the 20th century brought with it a change in our land management practices. Today, conflagrations have become more common and are driven by two primary factors: Fuel and Wind.
Wind-dominated fires tend to be less dependent on a continuous, dense fuel system and are instead driven by foehn winds, or as they're better known, the Diablo Winds or the North Winds. These seasonal winds occur during the late summer and autumn months as a result of sinking high pressure systems over the Sierra Nevada Range. As these winds travel down the mountain and towards the valley, they become warmer, decrease in humidity and can travel at speeds of 40 mph or more. This can lead to massively intense wildfires, many of which we have experienced in the past couple of years.
Since Diablo winds generally occur during the late-summer and fall months, when thunder storms and and lightening are rare, most wind-dominated fire's are a result of human activity. Whether it's a landowner mowing their lawn, a backfiring car, or a powerline, the only way to stop a wind-dominated fire is before it begins. Be smart, don't conduct potential fire generating activities during a red-flag day.
Wind driven fires also produce massive amounts of embers, which can travel well ahead of the fire front and start more fires miles away. Many Paradise residents know this too well.
In the 2017 Tubbs Fire embers blew 1/2 a mile off a ridge and over US 101 igniting homes near Coffey Park in Santa Rosa. What this means is that during a wind driven fire, home hardening can be critically important to stop embers from igniting your home.
Conversely, fuel-dominated fires are driven by massive buildups of vegetative fuel in the forest, which contribute to unusually severe fires that tend to burn through very large areas of land. These fires are common in central and northern California and although human activity can cause a fuel-dominated fire, they are statistically ignited more frequently by lightening during the months of June and July.
Fuel-dominated fires can become so intense they generate their own wind, sometimes resulting in a fire tornado, as was seen during the 2018 Carr Fire or the 2019 Woolsey Fire. It must be stated that in the wildland urban interface (WUI), homes should also be considered fuel. In WUIs with a dense population, homes can quite literally fuel the fire and contribute to an uptick in the destruction.
Consider this: studies on simulated crown fires show intense heat production for about 150 seconds. A burning home can be an inferno for closer to an hour. The longer heat is applied to a flammable surface, and the closer that surface is to the source of the heat, the more likely and quickly it is going to ignite. This is why home hardening is just as important as fuels reduction work in a densely developed WUI such as Paradise.
Remember, if your home doesn't ignite, it won't burn.
A Recent History of Fires Around Paradise
Since 1990 there have been 15 fires that have burned within a 5 miles of Paradise. Historically, these fires never made the jump into the actual Town of Paradise and were usually stopped before the Town limits. Before the Camp Fire, the two most recent and largest fire's both occurred in 2008 and were the Humboldt Fire and the BTU Lightening Complex, burning 23,344 acres and almost 54,000 acres, respectively.
That all changed on November 8, 2018 when a fire starting at 6:15 am from a faulty power line 6 miles away was driven by the wind towards Paradise. By 8:00 am the fire was burning through the town. Less than 12 hours later, the fire had consumed Paradise, burning an area of over 55,000 acres. According to CAL FIRE, at it's peak the fire was consuming a football field equivalent of land every second.
Historic Fire Perimeters (1990 to current) vs Camp Fire
The destructive and deadly nature of the Camp Fire was due to a culmination of natural and human forces working in concert. Human activity started the fire due to a faulty power line. On that day there had been a Red Flag Warning indicating the presence of strong winds coming from the Sierra Nevada, traveling west towards the Valley. These winds were the driving force behind the fire's accelerated travel towards Paradise and the reason why so many were caught off guard. Once in town, fire embers continued to spread rapidly. Many homes with some defensible space burned down, indicating the role of wind-driven embers in facilitating the structural destruction throughout town. Relative humidity in the area had been significantly low at the time, which decreased the moisture content of combustible material, including wood, vegetation, and homes, resulting in quick combustion and intense heat. The presence of homes acting as fuels and their contribution to the size and intensity of the fire are still under investigation.
Post-Camp Fire Reality
The Camp Fire resulted in 153,336 acres burned, 18,804 structures destroyed, 85 fatalities and essentially a reset of ecological succession across the landscape. Early estimates indicate that as much as 90% of the overstory trees throughout Paradise were killed by the Camp Fire. This removal of the overstory leads to increased light penetration to the forest floor, spurring growth of dormant seed banks, basal sprouts and seeds that may have inadvertently been deposited into town by clean-up crews or wildlife.
Currently one can look around Paradise and see landowner parcels that have not been managed and are choked full of shrubs, grasses, vines and blackberries, and invasive species. After two years, some of these locations are experiencing growth heights of 6 feet or more. Simply cutting these shrubs and invasive species back can slow down the growth, but many of these species will continue to resprout and regrow until sunlight becomes limited and other more desirable plants, such as trees, can out compete them. In fact, without follow-up disturbances to reduce the quick growing shrub cover it could take 50 to 100 years for significant pine regeneration to occur. What this ultimately means is that the decisions and management strategies made today will significantly affect tomorrow.
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Did you know that you could borrow up to 4 weed wrenches from the Fire Safe Council? Click the link below for more information!
Reforestation Techniques
In this diagram from NC Extension, you can see that trees growing in close proximity with other trees or vegetation have to compete with limited resources, such as water, nutrients and sunlight, which can decrease their growth rates and eventually affect their health. By clearing vegetation away from trees and thinning slower growing trees, we can increase growth rates and repopulate Paradise with healthy trees in a shorter amount of time.
We all want to get back to the way things were, but it's going to take some time. If the shrub component continues to grow unabated, then it could be 50-100 years before trees begin to become a significant part of the overstory again. However, with some active management of our lands, we may be able to reduce that timeline by half. Begin by removing dense shrub layers that can stifle tree germination and growth, particularly of ponderosa pine, which is a shade intolerant species and does not grow well if it has to compete for sunlight.
If you notice seedlings of ponderosa pine growing on your property and you would like to keep them, clear an area around the seedlings so they can get ample amounts of sunlight. It's okay if multiple seedlings are growing in close proximity to each other. Let them grow and compete with each other for a few years so you can determine which is the better, stronger grower. As the trees begin to grow bigger, you'll want to thin out the slower growers and select for the most vigorous trees with the best form. Spacing is also important, and as the trees become even bigger you'll want to keep between 20 feet and 30 feet between each tree. A good general rule is that as the trees develop and the crowns begin to touch, you may want to start thinking about removing one of the trees and give the bigger and healthier looking tree more room to grow. Eventually, nature would take its course and the slower growing, unhealthy tree would die-off anyway. But by accelerating the removal of unhealthy and/or slow growing trees you give the healthier trees more access to sunlight, nutrients and water, which will give them every chance to grow as fast and as healthy as they can.
Also, by removing unhealthy, slow growing, and stressed trees you remove a potential host for various pathogens, such as pine beetles or fungi. These insects and fungi typically won't attack healthy trees, but allowing them to colonize an unhealthy tree can increase the chances that a healthy tree gets attacked. A year or two of drought and an infected tree on your property could be all that is needed for an otherwise healthy tree to start declining and eventually die.
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Replanting with Native Species
As you rebuild and replant, begin to plan for your trees and yard while keeping the natural ecosystem and fire regime of the area in mind. Introduced species such as eucalyptus, cypress, and junipers, although aesthetically appealing, can actually increase the burn rate, spread, and intensity of a fire. Instead, propagating plants that grow lower to the ground and have a higher moisture content would be best. Also, native plants are adapted for not just the weather and climate, but also for the California fire regimes. Choosing native species over introduced species can have a better impact on the ecosystem and can make a big difference for your property. For trees, consider growing hardwood species such as oak or maple that are generally less flammable than their coniferous counterparts. For more information on fire-resistant plants for your landscape click the button below!
Home Hardening
It Takes a Village
Keeping Paradise fire safe is everyone's responsibility. In today's world, there really isn't any one project or agency or landowner that can make a community fire-safe. It takes everyone working towards improving their land and homes for us to truly move towards becoming a fire resilient community. In order to do that, knowing and staying up on the best available research is paramount in protecting your home, property, and community from the next wildfire.
Currently, vegetation management and removals are occurring throughout the Town and surrounding areas at incredible rates. At this time, there is an extensive effort to remove all the hazard trees that are threatening public infrastructure, but work still needs to be done to control the understory.
In densely housed forest communities like Paradise, it's even more important to take every available precaution in protecting your home from igniting and keeping any fire that may enter your property to a minimum. Knowing what can increase the risk of your home burning down can help you prepare now.
Recently, the Spatial Informatics Group conducted an analysis of factors that influenced structure loss and survival resulting from the Camp Fire. These are their findings:
- Mobile Homes: According to research, a mobile home is associated with a 650% increased chance of it burning down in the event of another fire. Part of this may be due to the density of mobile home parks, part may have to do with the materials used to build and retrofit mobile homes.
For mobile home residents, work with your neighbors or owners associations to come up with a plan on hardening the park and your homes from fire. See the Firewise Community section below for more information.
Asphalt Roofs: Asphalt roofs may double your chances of losing your home to a wildfire when compared to metal or tile roofs. This is not to say asphalt roof won't protect your home at all during a wildfire, because they can. But they must be Class A, using fireproof or fire-resistant materials and should be inspected and cleared of all burnable debris before the fire season begins.
If you have the option, consider switching to a different building material, such as tile or concrete shingles.
In the end, however, asphalt is still better than wood shingle roofs or severely weathered roofs like to one shown here.
Open eaves are also really good at catching embers that could potentially ignite the house
Wooden decks: wooden decks can potentially increase your chances of your home burning down by nearly 30%.
Decks should ideally be build with non-flammable materials and all boards should be flush with each other and the house to ensure embers don't ignite accumulated debris.
- Sloped property: building your home on a slope is associated with a 60% increased chance of losing your home in a fire.
Fire travels faster uphill, as the flames have more direct access to burnable fuels.
Building a home on a slope? Both home hardening and fuels reduction work on your property are critically important to increase the chances your home survives the next fire. A little planning can go a long way!
Fencing: Having a wood fence built right up to your home may not be a good idea as it is flammable and could ignite your home. However, fencing your yard with an impenetrable, non-flammable material may help reduce the likelihood of your home burning down by nearly 34%.
This may be due to it's ability to limit embers falling on or near your house and can also act as a barrier to block radiant heat from something that is burning near your home.
New homes: homes built to modern building codes have a 65% better chance of surviving the next wildfire. In fact, the design and build of your home can significantly increase the chances of survival, as enclosed eaves, no vents on eaves, ignition resistant siding, and multi-pane windows are associated with a 61%, 66%, 44%, and 33% decreased chance of loss, respectively.
Many other researchers have discovered similar findings, although some results have been conflicting. What this appears to mean is what may be fairly obvious: no two fires are the same, just like no two locations are the same. How a fuel-driven fire behaves in Australia or Redding is very different than what happened during the Camp Fire or Bear Fire. Where defensible space may help protect your home when the fire front is closing in, it might not do anything to protect against wind-blown embers. So we need to make sure that we're being dynamic in the planning and hardening of our homes and community. What's just as important is being aware of the projects in your community so we're not reinventing the wheel every year. Working together and knowing what tools and programs are available for you is a critical way of maximizing the efficiency and efficacy of your plans.
For more information on Sustainable Defensible Space click the button below!
Projects in Your Neighborhood
Agency Projects
The Butte County Fire Safe Council, in conjunction with groups like the Butte County Resources Conservation District, Chico State, CAL FIRE and private contractors are all working towards increasing the pace and scale of fuels reduction projects throughout the area. From shaded fuelbreaks along the perimeter of the town, to fuels reduction projects along key ingress and egress routes, to chipper programs and herbicide-assistance programs, the Butte County Fire Safe Council have projects planned for the next few years that are all designed to protect infrastructure and lives in preparation for the next wildfire that can impact the Paradise community.
The employees at the Butte County Fire Safe Council are here for you. Everyday they work with stakeholders to develop plans and find the funding to complete various fuels reduction and wildfire preparatory programs for Paradise and the surrounding area.
Often, they will reach out to you via mail if your property is in an area that could be critical in wildfire defense. It is extremely important you respond to their letters so we can defend Paradise together! Click the button below for more information!
Below Are Some More Projects Currently Under Development
CAL FIRE Vegetation Management Program
The CAL FIRE Vegetation Management Program (VMP) is a program originally developed in 1980 to assist private landowners with prescribed burning within chaparral dominant ecosystems of southern California. Over time, it evolved to include forested lands on State Responsibility Areas (SRAs) throughout the state and also uses mechanical means to conduct the fuels reduction project. The program allows private landowners to enter into a contract with CAL FIRE, wherein CAL FIRE personnel will conduct prescribed burns and other management activities on private property in order to accomplish both resource management and fire reduction goals.
Currently, CAL FIRE and the Butte County Fire Safe Council have been working with private landowners in the buttes south of Paradise to implement fuels reduction treatments on close to 8,000 acres of private property. The project is intended to do prescribed burning along sections close to Skyway Road and Pentz Road, with mechanical fuels reduction treatments occurring between these burn units where housing density increases, making it more difficult to safely performing burning operations.
The goal of this project is to reduce the shrub and brush component within the valleys and ridgetops of lower Paradise in an effort to reduce the intensity of the next fire that originates in the lower elevations south of Paradise. Within the valleys and along the steeper butte walls, mature chaparral-type vegetation and basal sprouting shrubs have established and become the dominant veg-type for this area. In it's current condition, these vegetation types have become a closed-canopy system, capable of moving a fire quickly through the lower elevation and towards the town of Paradise. Chaparral vegetation types, shrub-form regrowth, and basal sprouts that resulted from the Camp Fire can increase the intensity of fire that could originate in the oak-grasslands below Paradise, making it harder for emergency personnel to fight during a wildfire event. The burning and mechanical treatment of these chaparral and shrub systems can reduce the continuity of fuels, which will act both as a means to slow the spread and reduce the intensity of the next wildfire, while providing more growing space and access to nutrients for the next crop of trees.
Right now, the Butte County Fire Safe Council is signing up landowners for participation in this program. Of the 381 parcels owned by 266 landowners located within the project area, we are projecting an 80% participation by the end of January! At this time, there are 153 landowners signed up. If you live in this area, please consider signing up with a member of the Fire Safe Council. The program is free and you will get professional assistance from CAL FIRE personnel and local Registered Professional Foresters. Call 530-877-0984 for more information!
CEQA and Fuels Reduction Along the Rim
Along the eastern and western perimeters of Paradise, work is being developed that would effectively create a fuelbreak around the entire town. Sections of this treatment are in various stages of completion, with some properties already undergoing fuels reduction work and others in the planning stages. Within these perimeter properties, the Butte County Fire Safe Council and their partners would work with local Registered Professional Foresters and logging/vegetation management contractors to secure the funding, permitting and personnel needed to conduct fuels reduction activities. Landowners in these locations would enter into agreements with the Butte County Fire Safe Council so the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) permitting can be completed for the designed fuels reduction treatment in their location. This permitting will keep the contractors and work CEQA compliant, allowing grant funds secured through programs such as the California Climate Investments (CCI) to be used while ensuring environmental protections remain in place.
A build up of high density chaparral in oak woodlands creates high fire risk south of Paradise.
In recent decades, 3 fires have threatened the southern end of Paradise. The Paradise VMP is intend to reduce chaparral in oak woodlands.
With a combination of mastication and prescribed fire the Paradise VMP reduces chapparal in oak woodlands, So that future fires will be less intense and easier to fight.
As dead and burned trees on the camp fire scar begin to decay, new vegetation has begun to regrow. This creates a hazardous build up along the west branch of the feather.
Until the Camp Fire, The BTU Lightning Fire was the closest to reaching Paradise. The West Branch Project is reducing hazardous fuels along the west branch of the Feather river.
A combination of goat grazing, hand cutting and pile burning is being used to reduce fuels in preparation for tree planting on the West Branch Project.
Work in this area may be done in stages, as the dozens of landowners, hundreds of acres of land, varying fuel types and sporadic access to grant funding make it difficult to get the work done in one shot. Therefore, current funding will likely go towards fuels reduction activities in key locations, on lands with higher than average fuel loads, easy accessibility and pre-existing agreements between the landowners and the FSC. As more funding is secured, CEQA permitting may be done on a larger segment of properties along the rim so when additional funding becomes available, projects can be quickly green-lighted and completed without being bogged down by the months of permitting.
Did you know the Butte County Fire Safe Council has a chipper program to assist with your wildfire cleanup and maintenance of your property? Click the button below for more information!
If you live in one of the areas identified above, it is important that you reach out or respond to Butte County Fire Safe Council representatives for assistance and coordination with vegetation management projects on your property and within your community. Between the VMP project areas and the Rim Treatment/Firewise Community acreage there is approximately 10,752 acres of land that needs to be managed (realistically, not every acre needs to be treated, so a range of treatments will be given below). This is important to know because it allows us to understand how much land needs to be treated annually in order for the treatments to remain in a "fire-ready" state. Currently, with ample sunlight due to a lack of overstory the treatment return interval should be two years. This means, every two years the entirety of 10,752 acres would need to be treated, or 5,376 acres per year. Once an overstory has reestablished that treatment return interval can increase to 7 years based on previous research in the area, which would require 1,536 acres treated per year. This is due to a reduction in sunlight that reaches the forest floor that will limit shrub and brush growth.
As stated above, not all of the 10,752 acres will need to be treated, as houses, pavement and irrigated landscape are present on nearly every parcel. If we estimate that 50% of the 10,752 acres are actually treatable, then we would nee to treat 2,688 acres every year under a 2 year return-interval or 768 acres every year under a 7 year return-interval.
Firewise USA®
Firewise USA® is a voluntary program that provides a framework to help neighbors get organized, find direction, and take action to increase the ignition resistance of their homes and community.
For many small landowners, knowing whether or not the fuels reduction work you're doing is going to have the intended positive and protective impact can be frustrating. After several conversations with landowners, it's become apparent that there are concerns about how much work someone should do on their property. One landowner was frustrated about spending months cleaning up their property, while the adjacent landowner has left their property to become densely vegetated with highly flammable shrubs and grasses. "What can I do?" he asked.
Firewise Communities, may be the answer. This program began in 2002 and currently has thousands of active member communities throughout the United States. The goal of the program is simple- provide private landowners with the information, tools and guidance they need to protect their homes and property from wildfire.
Working together, the entire perimeter of Paradise could one day provide effective wildfire treatments that can protect the entire town. This map illustrates critical locations for Firewise Communities but these are not the only locations where they should be established. If you live in the interior of town, work with your neighbors and local fire department or foresters to develop a plan today.
There are several steps in becoming a Firewise Community. First, a board/committee needs to be created and comprised of residents and local stakeholders. This group will work together in identifying the site boundary and size of your proposed Firewise Community and will work with local state forestry personnel or local fire departments in obtaining a written wildfire risk assessment. This assessment will be used to identify areas where successful wildfire risk-reduction has occurred and where improvements can be made. From there the board will create an action plan, where all the projects, investments, and participant activities can be decided and prioritized. Then, once the planning has been accomplished, it's time to act. Your community will host an outreach event and work together on addressing the contents of your action plan, for at least 1 hour per household per year. Put in another way, if your cul-de-sac of 7 neighbors form a Firewise Community and develop an action plan with the help of your local fire department, then every year each household is responsible for conducting 1 hour of wildfire risk reduction work, so that 7 hours of total work has been completed.
This program is one of the best tools available to the average WUI landowner to take action on your own property to protect what's yours. In a location such as Paradise, where neighbors are often in close proximity to one another, this program can give you the tools and organization to work together and take your small contribution to being fire-safe and make it count towards a concerted whole. It also gives you the opportunity to tackle larger projects together and make a larger impact overall. In the end, this program helps you plan for a better and safer tomorrow. For more information, click the link below, read about the benefits of the program, talk with your neighbors and reach out to your state or local liaison.
Your Home and Wildfire. Choices that can make a difference.
Be sure to take advantage of the programs available to you. Contact the Butte County Fire Safe Council with any questions, comments or concerns - (530) 877-0984 -
Remember, if your home doesn't ignite, it won't burn!
Emergency Action Plan
There will come a time when another fire is heading towards Paradise and when that day comes we all need to be prepared. This means taking care of and maintaining your property, keeping the exterior of your home free of debris and other flammable material, and knowing how to evacuate safely and efficiently.
We live in a state that evolved around fire and because of the decisions made up until a decade ago, we are now faced with out-of-control fires that are likely to continue for some time. We cannot avoid fire. We can only act in a way that increases the chances of making it through safely and with our homes still intact.
Evacuating can be one of the hardest and most vulnerable things you have to do in an emergency. Having a plan on how to get out, without clogging the streets and blocking emergency personnel, is paramount. Part of this involves keeping roads open. Many of the stories heard in the aftermath of the Camp Fire was that trees and other debris blocked roads, making it impossible to pass. It is important all landowners along the major corridors in Paradise know that the type of management done on your property can have severe consequences for potentially hundreds of people trying to make it out of town.
Main Roads and Alternatives Routes for Use During an Evacuation. Use this map to find your home and plan an escape route! If you live along one of these corridors, work with neighbors or the Fire Safe Council to reduce fuel loads next to the road to help keep the roads clear during the next evacuation! Please note that Wagstaff Road, Bille Road and Elliot Road do not provide an escape route of of town. These Roads are highlighted on the map to guide you to Skyway Road, Clark Road, or Pentz Road.
Our Roles and Responsibilities
Throughout this document it has been repeated that YOU are responsible for yourself and your property. It should also be clear that this responsibility will have a positive impact on your neighbors. In other words, what benefits your property will benefit your neighbor. If you allow your property to become overgrown and unmaintained with flammable possessions strewn throughout your lot, you not only are increasing the chances of your property igniting in the next fire, you're increasing the chances that your neighbors lose their home and property as well.
It's been said before that if your home doesn't ignite, it won't burn. Hardening your home, getting rid of all flammable materials within the first 5 feet, keeping vegetation to a minimum for then next 30 feet, and limiting ladder fuels on your property is the best way to keep your home and your property safe.
And remember that you're not alone. There are ample resources available to assist you with keeping your property fire safe.
Sources
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