Santa Barbara Foothill Community Defensible Space

Santa Barbara Foothill Community Defensible Space

Project consists of 10 fuel reduction treatments totaling 70 acres located in the greater Mission Canyon area in the foothills of Santa Barbara. Five treatments will utilize hand crews to selectively thin vegetation along the primary access routes including Tunnel Road, Mission Canyon Road, and Las Canoas Road. The existing fuel is predominately mature oak woodland with scattered chaparral. Mature trees will be limbed and ladder fuels removed for a width of 10 to 20 feet on both sides of the roads. The cut material will be chipped and spread uniformly on site. Additionally, five shaded fuel breaks averaging 6 acres each will be created around the perimeter of the community. Hand crews will be utilized to cut and thin the existing chaparral dominated fuel bed. The shrub dominated area will be treated with a residual mosaic approach, leaving scattered shrubs and islands of intact formation comprising approx. 20% of the original cover. Mature Live Oak trees will not be removed. No work will occur within 50 feet of a riparian corridor. Cut material will be chipped where possible and piled and burned in areas inaccessible to chippers. The majority of the treatment area has been a historical fuel break. The project will greatly increase the defensible space around the community and also protect the surrounding wildland from a fire starting from within Mission Canyon. No heavy equipment is authorized under this document. A query of the National Diversity Database will be performed for each treatment to check for the presence of endangered plants and/or animals. DFW will be consulted for input as necessary.

Santa Barbara