Wildfires delay schedule for Fiscalini forest test plots

Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve started working on the first of three test plots in the forest on the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve in June of this year. These plots are to determine what methods were best for the health of our forest, cleaning up debris, thinning and processing flammable material.

We had expected that we would complete our first plot, wait until baby owls and juncos fledged from their nests and then we would start on the next two plots, probably in mid-July. Cal Fire crews completed the first plot June 1, and we were ahead of schedule. Everything looked great!

But nature and possibly fate upended our tidy schedule. The longer we waited for the birds to fledge, the deeper we got into fire season — not only fire season but fire season following a long and intense drought. Crews and Cal Fire personnel who would have had time to work on forest health projects here in Cambria found themselves battling to save not only forests but lives, homes and thousands of acres of our most treasured landscapes from Big Sur to Lake Nacimiento and Pine Mountain.

People and places we all know were either burned or threatened. Heartbreaking. And then the possibility of fire was expected to come as close as San Simeon Creek and Van Gordon Creek roads — too close to home for the rest of us.

On the Ranch, we are again preparing to continue with the test plots. We are hoping that the fires everywhere are coming to an end, but we can’t depend on that. Firefighting crews have been pushed to their limits, and we are thinking we may need to hire contractors to take over the project in order to complete it before the rainy season. We will do that as our match for the Fairbanks Family grant that funded the Ranch’s forest management plan.

We will reflag the areas to be treated with colored tape. The plot markings we put up in the spring have been coming apart, because of winds and weather, but also, people have been removing the tapes.

When you walk the forest trails and see various colors of flagging tape, please don’t be alarmed, and please don’t alter them. The yellow caution tape tells the work crews to avoid sensitive areas. The blue tape marks the boundaries of the test plot areas. The orange tape marks healthy trees to be saved — so removing that tape (as has been done recently by, I’m sure, well-meaning folks) puts those trees in danger. Pink flagging is on hazardous or dead trees. If you look at the orange flagged trees, you will see a variety of ages and sizes, including some dead standing snags to serve as wildlife habitat. This variety is necessary for a healthy, multi-aged forest.

Once the plots have been thinned, if necessary, the debris will be treated in different ways; one will have the remains cut up and scattered, and one will have them chipped and spread. One area will have the debris piled and burned, much like what was done on the Covell property behind the homes in Leimert Estates. It will be monitored and Cal Fire crews and equipment will be standing by.

Restoration is also a big part of the project. Each area will be treated differently, either with native plantings or Monterey pine cone and understory seed scattering. One area will receive no treatment at all; we will wait to see what Mother Nature chooses to provide there — she has a way of knowing the right thing to do.

A parallel project, clearing the forest floor of the tangle of woody matter left over from cutting hazardous and dead and dying trees was implemented by the Cambria Community Services District. It complements the test plots but is more focused on reducing fuel loads and clearing out the tangle of logs and branches littering the ground. The CCSD has begun in the middle of the forest. They contracted with Ventana Forestry to remove as much as possible of the remaining piles of wood left from the emergency permit project in the winter. This should make the forest not only safer but also more enjoyable in the long run.

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 10:10 AM with the headline "Wildfires delay schedule for Fiscalini forest test plots."