We are deeply involved with stewardship issues in the public & conservation lands of the Santa Cruz Mountains, focused on the North Coast region. Much of the region has been logged, ranched, and farmed for the past two centuries, but now a significant portion has been set aside in the Coast Dairies and San Vicente (ex-CEMEX) Redwoods, so there is a tremendous opportunity for preservation and restoration. Joe Christy, through his work with the Bonny Doon Fire Safe Council, has been involved with balancing the needs of WUI residents and the ecology of this bio-diversity hot spot. The Fire Safe Council has worked with CA State Parks, POST, Sempervirens Fund, the Bureau of Land Management, and numerous private andowners to build about 15 miles of shaded fuel breaks. Quite recently, policy shifts with CAL FIRE and the upcoming management plan for the San Vicente Redwoods, where the biggest projects have been situated, offer the possibility of re-introducing fire into the landscape as a way to simultaneously increase the resilience of the native ecology and better adapt the community to wildfire. We would like to visit the Reserve in order to observe intact ecosystems similar to the conjectural natural state of our region, find inspiration, and place our local observations in a broader regional context.

Approved