Central Coast Regional Meeting
Join us in person at The Cocoanut Grove on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk or remotely via Zoom. Hosted by the California State Coastal Conservancy and San Mateo Resource Conservation District, discussions will focus on the unique landscapes and land management issues of California’s Central Coast. The meeting will open with a Resource Fair to showcase local organizations at work in the Central Coast region. Field tours will be offered on May 12. We look forward to connecting, committing to action, and collaborating on real solutions to the daunting challenges facing our landscapes and communities.
MAY 11 & 12
The Cocoanut Grove
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
400 Beach Street
Santa Cruz, CA
Event schedule - May 11
8:30-10:00 a.m. Resource Fair
10 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Morning Session
12:15-1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30-4:30 p.m. Afternoon Session
4:30-6:00 p.m. Reception
Free parking available in the main parking lot. Keep your ticket for validation.
field tours
FIELD TOURS WILL BE OFFERED ON MAY 12th
San Vicente Redwoods: Demonstrating Compatibility of Forest Resiliency and Public Access
Destination: San Vicente Redwoods, a privately held property demonstrating the compatibility of forest resiliency, conservation, sustainable timber harvest, and public access. This unique property is managed by a collective of four land trusts: Peninsula Open Space Trust, Sempervirens Fund, Save the Redwoods League, and the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. All of this nearly 9,000-acre site burned in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire. On this field trip, we’ll see the efficacy of a prescribed burn conducted just months before the 2020 wildfire and we’ll visit a temporary biomass processing site and discuss the opportunities and challenges of processing forest residue onsite. Pending weather and site conditions, we hope to demonstrate the use of air curtain burners, a carbonator, and a pile burn side by side. After the 9 am – 11 am tour, stay for a networking lunch hour (cold drinks and light snacks provided) with attendees of the Together Bay Area Conference Field trip participants are encouraged to also attend the subsequent 12-2 p.m. field trip with Together Bay Area.
Start/End Time: 9am – 11pm (with option to 2pm)
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: Small section that meets outdoor accessibility guidelines, majority of tour along moderate difficulty trails.
Fall Creek Truck Trail Forest Health Project: Ladder Fuels Reduction Promotes Biodiversity and Resilience
Destination: Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell State Park, the focus of a 62-acre CAL FIRE Forest Health project. This primarily second-growth redwood and mixed conifer forest was nearly all burned at low to moderate severity during the 2020 CZU Fire and was used heavily by fire personnel during the event. The Forest Health project includes removal of dense ladder fuels and dead trees with the goal of lowering stand density and promoting greater biodiversity and resilience. This project showcases a great partnership between the RCD of Santa Cruz County, California State Parks and CAL FIRE.
Start/End Time: 2pm – 4:30pm
Location: VIEW MAP > Meet at Trininty Bible parking lot at the bottom of El Solyo Heights Road in Felton (7301 Hwy 9, Felton, CA 95018)
Accessibility: No ADA access or restrooms. Personal protective equipment may be required.
Quarry Park Fuel Reduction/Community Protection: Community Engagement and Protection in the WUI
Destination: Quarry Park, just north of Half Moon Bay, is a focal point of significant community interest regarding management of fuel loads, particularly eucalyptus, in the Wildland Urban Interface. Learn how San Mateo Resource Conservation District and partners, including county parks and local fire agencies, brought fire science and deep listening to community engagement. We will tour a shaded fuel break project on site while discussing how projects are informed by fire modeling and permit strategies, and how biomass management and winter storm response affect their implementation.
Start/End Time: 10am – 12pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: Walking tour. Personal protective equipment may be required. Limited parking, please carpool.
Forest Health Work in the Butano Watershed: Envisioning Forest Health as a Process, Not a Project, in the Pescadero-Butano Watershed
Destination: The State’s first completed California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) project, also the first project approved by the California Coastal Commission to use a Public Works Plan as a novel approach to permitting in the Coastal Zone. We will visit two sites in southern San Mateo County impacted by the August 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fires: Butano State Park and Girl Scouts of Northern California’s Camp Butano. Over 2,100 acres will be treated to improve the health and resilience of the forest. Discussion will include recovery from fire, prescribed burns and fuels treatments, and permitting for long-term management.
Start/End Time: 10am – 2pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: Two vehicle stops with short walking tour from each.
Big Basin State Park Post-Fire Recovery: Reimagining Big Basin
Destination: The headquarters area of Big Basin State Park. The tour will highlight the recovery efforts that have been made to reopen the park following the CZU Lightning Complex incident. We will also be discussing the “Reimagining Big Basin” process that seeks to create a more equitable and resilient park. The tour will include a short walk-through old growth redwood forest that experienced high severity fire and give participants an opportunity to discuss State Park’s development of a forest management strategy for Big Basin and its neighboring parks.
Start/End Time: 9am – 12pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: Short walk through old growth redwood on accessible path.
Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority: Efforts of the Only Publicly Funded Wildfire Prevention Authority in the U.S.
Destination: Showcased projects of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA), the only publicly funded wildfire prevention authority in the U.S. The tour will highlight local collaborative programs led by MWPA including vegetation management, a countywide chipper program, defensible space evaluations/creation, evacuation planning, and route clearing. We will discuss the MWPA’s use of and reliance and the CalVTP and MWPA’s support of the recently launched Fire Foundry Program, an innovative workforce development program aimed at achieving equity in the fire and civic service and providing pathways to sustainable wage careers. Participants will meet at the MWPA office in San Rafael, the MWPA will provide vans to shuttle participants to each tour site.
Start/End Time: 11am – 3pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
MWPA Office: 1600 Los Gamos Drive, Suite 345, San Rafael
Accessibility: Some walking on uneven unpaved paths/trails; parts are fully accessible. Driving tour to sites with short walks at each.
Webster Project – San Luis Obispo County: a CAL FIRE Governor’s Priority Project
Destination: “The Webster Project” – one of CAL FIRE’s 2019 Governor’s priority projects – covering 1,200 acres of chapparal habitat in rural north county San Luis Obispo. The goal of this project was to reduce hazard fuel loading and mimic natural fire using prescribed fire. The tour will highlight the treatment of crushing chamise brush followed with prescribed fire to consume 10-hour dead fuels. Treatments are aimed at creating a diversity of resilient vegetation types while creating a safety zone and anchor point for firefighting efforts in the event of a wildfire.
Start/End Time: 1pm – 3pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: Will Meet at CAL FIRE Creston Fire Station, load into van, drive to project site- 15 minutes. Mostly driving tour with small walk out to burn units (100 feet from vehicle), No ADA.
Santa Lucia Conservancy: Balancing the Protection of Life, Property, and Biodiversity with Long-term Ecosystem Resilience
Destination: The Santa Lucia Preserve. The Santa Lucia Conservancy’s vision for fire and fuels management on The Preserve is one that harmoniously balances the protection of life, property, and biodiversity with long-term ecosystem resilience. This strategy includes shaded fuel breaks, prescribed burns, conservation grazing, invasive plant removal, a Preserve-wide fuel management plan, and lot-specific fuel management plans for individual homeowners. Join the Santa Lucia Conservancy and collaborating partners for a driving tour of The Preserve to learn more about how we collaborate with fire agencies, land management organizations, landowners, and our neighbors to implement these fire safety tools.
Start/End Time: 9am – 12:30pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: This is a driving tour.
Swanton Pacific Ranch and Big Creek Lumber Sawmill: Witnessing and Learning From the Effects of the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex
Destination: Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch. The tour will focus on post fire redwood and Douglas fir forest management and restoration funded by CAL FIRE Forest Health program and guided by the property’s long term Non-Industrial Timber Management Plan. In August 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire impacted Cal Poly’s School Forest, which has long been a hub of student learning, research, and demonstration of sustainable timber management practices. The fire, along with CAL FIRE’s funding support, has presented us with some unique opportunities to demonstrate fuels reduction and restoration and ways to experiment with preparing the forest for the predicted consequences of climate change. We are also experimenting with various methods of biomass removal, replanting, and redwood canopy retention while training a workforce on methods to increase the pace and scale of fuels management and vegetation treatment. Break for lunch, and then reconvene down the road for a tour of the Big Creek Lumber Sawmill. We’ll see the mill in operation and discuss the effects of fire on merchantable timber, as well as the effects of the CZU fire on Big Creek property, and the recovery work they are doing post-fire.
Start/End Time: 10am – 2pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
Accessibility: Attendees will meet at a central location and carpool to tour location a short drive away.
Glenwood Open Space Preserve: demonstrating multiple benefits of a conservation grazing program
Destination: Glenwood Open Space Preserve. Join the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County for a tour of this beautiful preserve in Scotts Valley, just a few minutes off of Highway 17 on the way out of Santa Cruz. The Glenwood Open Space Preserve is home to a high number of rare and endangered species, including the Ohlone tiger beetle, Opler’s longhorn moth, and the Scotts Valley spineflower. This tour will show off the beautiful spring wildflowers in bloom and highlight how we manage fuels along the wildland-urban interface while preserving the endangered species through conservation grazing, among other methods.
Start/End Time: 1pm – 3pm
Location: VIEW MAP >
