NATURAL RESOURCE, FUELS & Pre-Fire management

Goals and objectives

CAL FIRE SLU vegetation management treatments are scientifically, ecologically, and environmentally centered and are intended to mimic natural fire and natural fire regimes.

The mimicry of natural fire in CAL FIRE SLU projects is essential to creating mosaics that increase biodiversity, sequester carbon, protect fire fighters and communities, as well as create wildfire resilient landscapes and ecosystems.

Vegetation treatments are designed to create mosaics across the landscape that will alter wildfire behavior and allow for more efficient wildfire suppression, which will increase protection of residential communities and limit environmental damage; while replicating natural fire regime attributes for native habitats by incorporating seasonality, fire return interval, fire size, spatial complexity, fireline intensity, and severity into the project planning.

GIS

Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) help understand patterns, relationships, and geographic context. Maps are an essential part to producing a successful fire project. 

The benefits include improved communication, efficiency, management, and decision-making.

Types of maps that we create and use include:

Project Specific, Operational, Incident, Pre-Attack, Response Time, Response Area, Jurisdiction, Battalion

FUELS

Fuels crews manage vegetation through prescribed fire, tree thinning, pruning, chipping, and roadway clearance to provide wildfire defense and resilience for both residential and natural communities.

These vegetation management efforts create spaces that alter fire behavior, reduce negative ecosystem impacts, and enable fire fighters to protect communities and our natural resources.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Protecting and restoring our local natural resources is at the heart of every project we do.

By working with landowners, partner agencies, and community organizations, we make sure each project meets important permitting requirements that help sustain our natural landscapes for future generations.

View our Storymaps below

Johnson Ranch Cultural Burn
yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini (ytt) Northern Chumash Tribe brings back tinɨtʸu, “Good Fire” to ancestral homelands in a collaborative effort
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Lighthouse II
The Lighthouse II project goals were met through several methods including mastication, handcrew treatments and prescribed fire
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Covell Ranch VTP
Promoting healthy forests before catastrophic fires and disease take over the rare species of Monterey pine in Cambria, California
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Yaro VMP
CAL FIRE has been conducting vegetation management treatments at the Yaro VMP project site in rural, central San Luis Obispo County, east of Santa Margarita
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Vegetation Management Techniques
Vegetation management techniques that best suit each project area
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Project Monitoring
A live document with data and monitoring updates from Vegetation Management Projects in San Luis Obispo County.
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Santa Barbara TREX November 11-19, 2023
Collaborative burning to promote ecological health, fire science research, and community fire training throughout Santa Ynez Valley
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Visit our StoryMaps Page Here

VIEW MORE MEDIA BELOW

Madre Fire Fuels Effectiveness Report

SLU CAL FIRE GIS

16 Videos
Unit Strategic Fire Plan

MORE INFORMATION

CAL FIRE SLU vegetation management treatments are scientifically, ecologically, and
environmentally centered and are intended to mimic natural fire and natural fire regimes. The mimicry of
natural fire in CAL FIRE SLU projects is essential to creating mosaics that increase biodiversity, sequester
carbon, protect fire fighters and communities, as well as create wildfire resilient landscapes and ecosystems.

Treatment activities result in a modification of the existing fuels that will reduce the risk of large-scale
catastrophic fire events and ultimately support the restoration of native vegetation and habitat conditions
including, but not limited to, habitat quality and natural, lower-intensity fire regimes. CAL FIRE SLU
treatments are designed to restore natural fire regimes, vegetation composition, and habitat structure to a native
condition and/or to maintain or improve habitat function of the ecosystem, while protecting adjacent residential
communities.

Find out more at the CAL FIRE Burn Permit website