Vegetation Management

About Vegetation Management

Vegetation management is focused outside a property owners required defensible space. The 2004 City of Santa Barbara Wildland Fire Plan has identified these Vegetation Management Units (project areas) within the district.  Each vegetation management unit requires the Fire Department to work with individual property owners and neighborhoods to accomplish education, assist with fuel hazard reduction projects, protect natural resources unique to the area, and help outline maintenance programs.

By working in cooperation with multiple property owners, there is a greater impact on reducing the community threat from wildfire. Vegetation management focuses on the removal of flammable vegetation outside a property owners required defensible space by preferentially removing exotic pest plants, thinning, pruning and limbing existing vegetation to remove fire ladders, limbing up of oak over story, pruning out dead material, and thinning out continuous areas of brush.

Projects

• The Parks and Recreation Department and Fire Department have partnered to improve the community’s fire resilience and reduce the risk and severity of wildfires within the City's open space parks. The collaboration balances the expertise of both teams to manage vegetation while protecting the natural ecosystems within the city’s open space parks. Click here to learn more about these ongoing projects.
• From 2021-2023 the City of Santa Barbara Fire Department has worked in collaboration with CAL FIRE and the California Fire Safe Council to clear approximately 20 acres of brush in the Community Fuels Treatment Network spanning multiple properties east of Skofield park and all the way to the City limits with Montecito. Much of this work has been funded through a $30,000 FireSafe grant awarded in 2021. [Click here to view project map]
• Skofield Park - Completed 10 acres of vegetation clearance in the Fall of 2020 utilizing both grazing of livestock and CAL FIRE hand crews in Skofield Park and the Van's Meadow areas below Las Canoas Rd.
• St. Mary's/Ontare - Completed 16 acres of vegetation clearance in the Community Fuels Treatment Network in cooperation with CAL FIRE crews between FY18 and FY20. This work was partially funded by a grant the City of Santa Barbara Fire Department received November of 2017 from the California State Firesafe Council. 
• Las Canoas/St. Mary's - Completed in Spring 2018. Crews removed dead vegetation and overgrown ladder fuels on 9.5 acres. Much of the dead material removed was due to the drought, the 2008 Tea Fire and the 2009 Jesusita Fire. 
• Jimeno/Garcia Canyon phases 1-3: Completed in Spring 2017. Crews successfully removed over 8 acres of ladder fuels, exotic plants and dead vegetation. A large amount of non-native Spanish Broom was removed during this project in addition to Eucalyptus sprouts in and around the area of the Santa Barbara Bowl.
• Four acres of hazardous brush and dead material removed from multiple parks and public areas within the Wildland Fire Suppression Assessment District in the Spring of 2017. These areas included Parma Park, West Mountain, Skofield Park and Stevens Park. 
• Garcia/Ferrelo Canyon - Completed in Spring 2016. Removal of 2 acres of non-native vegetation consisting primarily of Euphorbia and Pittosporum. A Biological monitor was present on site during the completion of the project to ensure ecological resources were being protected and best management practices were being followed while crews completed vegetation management work. 
• Saint Mary’s Seminary: Completed in Spring 2015. A large portion of the project was within the Tea Fire burn area. Crews focused on the removing dead vegetation that had accumulated as a result of the Tea and Jesusita Fires. In total, 8 acres of dead and overgrown vegetation was removed on the slopes below the Seminary. 
• Alston Place: Completed in Spring 2014. Crews successfully removed over 11 acres of ladder fuels, exotic plants and dead vegetation while ensuring the protection and preservation of native flora and fauna.
• Coyote Road: Completed in Spring 2013 in combination with the Community Fuels Hazard Reduction Project funded by a grant provided by the California Fire Safe Council. 7 acres treated and numerous hazard trees removed.
• Eucalyptus Hill: Completed in Spring 2013 in combination with the Community Fuels Hazard Reduction Project funded by a grant provided by the California Fire Safe Council. 25 acres treated and 73 Eucalyptus trees removed.
• Hillcrest Road: Completed Spring 2012 in combination with the Community Fuels Hazard Reduction Project funded by a grant provided by the California Fire Safe Council. 16 acres treated.
• Las Tunas/Mountain Drive: Seven month project completed Spring 2012 in combination with the Community Fuels Hazard Reduction Project funded by a grant provided by the California Fire Safe Council. 15 acres treated.
• Las Canoas Road: First Vegetation Management Unit project. A total of 18 acres were treated Spring 2011.
• North Ontare Road: Work occurred in the Extreme Foothill high fire hazard area as part of the Community Fuels Treatment Project. Work was completed utilizing a combination of CalFire hand crews, privately contracted crews and fire department engine company firefighters.
• Skofield Park/Van’s Meadow: Brush clearance was completed in the Van’s Meadow area of Skofield Park, off Las Canoas, during the first week of February. Cal Fire hand crews, along with a contracted chipping company, successfully cleared over 5 acres and removed 14 exotic trees.
• Saint Mary’s Seminary: A large portion of the initial project was within the Tea Fire burn area. Before the fire, crews successfully completed approximately 1.5 of the 20 acre project. Their project boundary was modified to include the 5.5 acres that was unburned in the fire.