Vista Parking Lot Vegetation Treatment Project

Vista Parking Lot Vegetation Treatment Project

UC Berkeley proposes to conduct the Vista Parking Lot vegetation treatment project (Project) from January 15, 2022, through February 1, 2022, as part of on-going fuel management activities it implements in the Hill Campus. As described in the Wildland Vegetative Fuel Management Plan (WVFMP), the project is a fire hazard reduction project to reduce hazardous fire conditions in a hillside area of approximately seven and half acres located below the Vista Parking Lot adjacent to the Lawrence Hall of Science and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The project is consistent with the fuel management activities evaluated in the WVFMP Environmental Impact Report. The project would focus on removing understory vegetation, including small eucalyptus, and shrubs, particularly coyote brush, cotoneaster and French broom. Shrubs would be removed from under and within six feet of the tree canopy. Lower limbs of trees would be pruned and removed up to fifteen feet. The project could remove dead, unhealthy, structurally unsound or highly flammable trees that are likely to torch and distribute embers; or remove short understory trees. Treatments would involve manually removing high fire hazard vegetation and trees using hand-held mechanized tools; no heavy equipment would be used. To prevent resprouting, an herbicide would be applied by a licensed applicator to specific tree stumps immediately following removal.

Berkeley, Oakland

Alameda

Countywide