By KEITH SEYDEL, SPENCER GORDON, and ANDREW BOYD-GOODRICH
Beginning on April 29 and extending until 2025, an ecological restoration and fire prevention project will take place on the Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino Reserve. The main objective of the project is to enhance ecological health and foster climate resiliency for a portion of rare Monterey pine forest that occurs at the University of California Rancho Marino Reserve. This will be achieved through ecologically minded forest health treatments.
CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program is funding the project. It is managed by The Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District and the University of California Natural Reserve System. Under the 1967 Coastal Act, Rancho Marino Reserve is an environmentally sensitive habitat area. Therefore, the RCD worked closely with the California Coastal Commission to ensure all necessary avoidance measures are in place to reduce any harm or threat to sensitive plants and animals that Rancho Marino hosts. Furthermore, a qualified biologist and/or registered professional forester familiar with the ecology of the treatment area will monitor treatment activities.
Current forest conditions present a substantial risk to the adjacent Camp Ocean Pines children’s camp, which hosts approximately 6,000 visitors annually. This project will develop a 17-acre shaded fuel break along Randall Road and extend to the border of Camp Ocean Pines. The primary goal of the shaded fuel break is wildfire prevention; however, treatments in these areas may also have ancillary ecosystem restoration benefits. In addition, the shaded fuel break treatment goals create control points to allow firefighters to actively fight wildfire and improve the safety of the singular ingress and egress roadway that serves as an escape route for Camp Ocean Pines.
This forestry project will periodically include the use of noisy mechanized equipment and hand crews. Neighbors close to the project may need to close windows to reduce noise. For any questions about this project, please contact the Upper Salinas – Las Tablas Resource Conservation District at (805) 460-7272.
Keith Seydel is the Kenneth S. Norris Rancho Marino Reserve Director
Spencer Gordon is the Project Manager Upper Salinas-Las Tablas RCD
Andrew Boyd-Goodrich is the Executive Director, Camp Ocean Pines
