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Greater Novato�Shaded Fuel Break Project

Public Workshop #1

November 9, 2022

Investing in a Fire Adapted Marin County

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Welcome and Introductions

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Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority

Mark Brown, Executive Officer
Anne Crealock, Planning and Program Manager

Novato Fire District

Mike Swezy, Vegetation Management Program Manager

Panorama Environmental

Purpose of Meeting

Introduce the Greater Novato Shaded Fuel Break Project and objectives
Describe the environmental process
Provide an opportunity for the public to engage and provide feedback on this project

Other Goals

Provide information on fuels and fire risks in Marin and the Novato Zone
Provide an introduction to MWPA’s overall programs
Describe the planning and implementation processes

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Fire History of Marin County

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Significant history of wildfires
Neighboring communities and counties severely damaged by catastrophic fires over last decade
Any of our communities could be next - we are all vulnerable

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Lessons Learned from 2017 North Bay Wildfires

Key Recommendations

Form a Joint Powers Authority

No single agency exists to coordinate fire prevention efforts
Need to integrate county-wide prevention and risk reduction work
Need an ongoing source of funding

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2018: Lessons Learned from the 2017 North Bay Fire Siege Report “When fires started October 8^th the only thing separating Marin County from their neighbors to the north was simply an ignition source.”

2019: Marin Civil Grand Jury Report on Wildfire Preparedness

”…the creation of a joint powers authority to coordinate a comprehensive, consistent approach to pre-ignition planning."

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MWPA Mission

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First Responders

Craft fire prevention, preparedness, and emergency response plans. Educate community.

Developers & Business Owners

Don’t build in high-risk areas. Build with fire-resistant materials.

Civic Leaders

Develop laws and �policies in support of fire �prevention, preparedness, and risk reduction.

Marin Residents

Modify homes to be more fire resistant. Be prepared and subscribe to alerts.

Land Managers

Manage landscapes for lowered fuel loads, lower fire intensity and ecological resiliency to fire.

The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority leads the development of fire adapted communities using sound scientific, financial, programmatic, ecological practices, vegetation management, community education, and evacuation and warning systems with the support of its member and partner agencies.

Leading the Development of a Fire Adapted Marin

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MWPA Goals Areas

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Reduce Wildfire Fuels

Vegetation Management and Local Wildfire Prevention Mitigation

Improve Evacuation Systems

Wildfire Detection, Alert, and Evacuation Program Improvements

Provide Grants to Residents

Grants to modify homes and partnerships to collaborate and augment funds

Educate�the�Public

Public outreach and education about fire prevention, preparedness, �and risk reduction

Reduce Risks to Homes

Defensible Space Evaluations �(1/3 annually) and Home Hardening

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MWPA Boundaries

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JPA Operational Boundaries: Five geographic zones
The Novato Zone is under the jurisdiction of the Novato Fire District
The Novato Fire District is responsible for fire protection and prevention in this zone

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Novato – Core Project and Objectives

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Greater Novato Shaded Fuel Break Project

One of many projects from the 2022/2023 Work Plan

Objectives:

Restore treated areas around Novato’s homes and community to a more natural, healthy, and fire-adapted condition by reducing accumulated ground and ladder fuels, and dead and down woody debris mimicking pre-fire suppression landscapes
Reduce wildfire hazards and create a continuous strategic fuel break around the Novato area
Design vegetation treatments using modeling to identify most effective methods for costs and prioritize where to treat
Complete environmental compliance so that implementation can occur using MWPA and other funding sources

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Project Location and Design

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Location

Approximately 60 miles long
Private and public lands in the City of Novato and Marin County

Fuel Break Design

Novato Fire District worked with Panorama and Vibrant Planet to refine the fuel break and wildland urban interface (WUI) areas based on locations of homes at the WUI, sensitive resources, expert knowledge, and outreach to Marin County Open Space District
Vibrant Planet incorporated input into the fuel break and WUI areas over several iterations

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Project Jurisdictions

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Main jurisdictions and large landowners

City of Novato
County of Marin
Marin County Open Space District (510 acres)
North Marin Water District (33 acres)
California Department of Fish and Wildlife (50 acres)
Large residential parcels
Ranchlands
College of Marin
Audubon
Large private open space

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Project Description

Features

Includes a continuous, generally 200-foot-wide shaded fuel break around the Novato community at the wildland urban interface (WUI), but evaluates up to 300 feet wide in the environmental document
Approximately 2,120 acres for the Fuel Break
Approximately 1,300 acres where WUI fuel reduction treatments could occur

Anticipated Treatments

For fuel break and WUI fuel reduction area: manual hand thinning, ground-based mechanical treatments, and invasive species removal, in addition to discrete areas of prescribed herbivory and herbicide
Prescribed burning: includes pile burning throughout fuel break and WUI fuel reduction area, and potential broadcast burning at one location (in yellow square)
Some areas may not be treatable due to slopes/access
Some areas may not need treatment (serpentine, rocky areas, or already treated areas)

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How the Fuel Treatments Are Being Designed

Modeling

Used the 2020 Marin CWPP datasets (Lidar-derived Fine Scale Vegetation Map, surface fuel model, fire modeling, and parcel-level risk assessment) and additionally collected data to design the fuel break

Designing the fuel break includes:

Fuel break segmentation
Development of Forest Health Restoration Treatments
Prioritization of Areas for Forest Health Restoration Treatments
Final Fuel break Treatment Unit Product Guide

Developed implementation plan – Prioritized treatments and phasing over ~5 years with ongoing maintenance

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Step 1 was to realign the fuelbreak with aerial imagery to match building footprints using aerial and other data.

The next step is to divide the fuelbreak into segments/polygons that represent a potential forest health treatment unit based on the vegetation and fuel conditions. The fuelbreak was divided into hundreds of segments.

A ruleset was then be applied relating vegetation treatments suitable to given conditions related to ownership, slope, vegetation characteristics, and other attributes from the segments.

The impacts of treatment on fire behavior was assessed to understand how well treatments would work and primary and secondary treatments were assigned with estimated costs. This data was then reviewed and revised. Finally, the treatments were prioritized based on fire hazard and where the most improvement in fire behavior could be seen for the work effort undertaken. Segments were then grouped to logical successive areas.

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Treatment Definitions

Treatment Unit Definition

Types of work

Hand thin, variable density – Treatment is variable and applied to mimic vegetation structure patterns that would exist in the areas’ intact disturbance regime.
Rearrangement, fine fuel – Mowing
Assess on site – low cover, riparian areas, steep slope
Ground based mechanical – generally targeting woody vegetation

Prior to work, additional fieldwork to layout units and fine-tune prescriptions is typical

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Draft Prioritization Based on Modeling Outcome

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Draft Prioritization Results

Based on fire threat risk and community exposure
Modeling results were reviewed for water features and vegetation types
Still undergoing final QA/QC
Prioritization is one tool to support Novato Fire District in determining where to work first. Other considerations also help determine where to begin vegetation management work.

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