Weston Road Fuel Management Plan Meeting on 24 August 2000

Meeting with a lot of fire people at Scotts Valley 24 August 2000, with USFWS people plus Vince and me, also J. Busch.

The whole process of working out “compromises” to protect rare plants from fire-prevention clearing seems to be a mountain out of a molehill: in my opinion, most clearing to reduce field load actually benefits rare plants, most of which are small herbs that like or need clearing/disturbance/bare ground etc. 

The whole conflict issue seems to revolve around rare manzanitas, especially A. silvicola, and specifically, Weston Rd. Vince, who took a tour there yesterday, noticed that where someone “illegally” chopped down a solid wall of manzanita, inadvertently caused a carpet of even rare Chorizanthe (and many other annuals) to come up where none were present before. For the rest, simply leaving selected individual shrubs is plenty to keep the species going. 

This, plus recent experiences with worried (and harried by officious bureaucrats) property owners, reminds me to include in my book a reassuring paragraph re rare plants--in most cases there is no need to worry so long as the power brokers are reasonable.