Cambria Reserves Restoration and Vegetation Treatment Project

Cambria Reserves Restoration and Vegetation Treatment Project

The Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District (US-LTRCD), in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), is proposing vegetation treatments on up to 291 acres of land in San Luis Obispo County. The treatment area is comprised of up to 187 acres of land within the University of California Natural Reserve System’s Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino Reserve (RMR) and 104 acres of land within the Cambria Pines Ecological Reserve (CPER). The project would involve vegetation treatments consistent with Coastal Vegetation Treatment Standards and the objectives of the California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP). US-LTRCD, in partnership with CDFW, has prepared a Project-Specific Analysis (PSA) for the project as a later activity covered by the CalVTP Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR). Proposed treatments at RMR and CPER are considered a single project under CEQA. CDFW is implementing treatments on CPER and US-LTRCD is implementing treatments on RMR. The proposed treatment type within CPER is ecological restoration (up to 104 acres). Proposed treatment activities are prescribed burning, mechanical treatments, manual treatments, and herbicide application. Vegetation may be left on-site or burned on-site in the form of broadcast burning, pile burning, or using specialized biomass processing technologies (e.g., air curtain burner, carbonator). Treatment maintenance could be ongoing and continuous within CPER, as needed, using the same treatment types and activities as the initial treatment. Treatment crews on-site would range in size depending on the treatment activity, from one- to five-person crews for herbicide treatments to up to 45 workers for prescribed burns. Although there is the potential for prescribed burning to occur during nighttime and weekend hours, all manual, mechanical, and herbicide treatment activities and associated equipment use would be limited to daytime hours. Treatments would begin in 2023 or as soon as possible thereafter, as resources are available to implement the initial treatment and ongoing maintenance.

San Luis Obispo

Southern California

San Luis Obispo