California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) Update

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CAL FIRE) is providing funding to help implement treatments on State Responsibility Area (SRA) lands in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park, north of the city of Aptos, Santa Cruz County. The California Department of Parks and Recreation has prepared a Project-Specific Analysis (PSA) and addendum for the project as a later activity covered by the California Vegetation Treatment Project (CalVTP) Program Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) for the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park Project, which entails implementation of vegetation treatments on up to 9,955 acres; CAL FIRE is providing funding to the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County to implement treatments on up to 220 acres. The proposed treatment types (WUI Fuel Reduction and Ecological Restoration) and treatment activities (manual thinning, mastication, and prescribed burning) are consistent with those evaluated in the CalVTP Program EIR and the writ of mandate issued by the Superior Court of San Diego on November 14, 2025 in California Chaparral Institute and Endangered Habitats League v. Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, and pursuant to PRC § 4483, have been designed to avoid type conversion in areas where chaparral and/or coastal sage scrub plant communities may be present. Maintenance treatments would involve the same vegetation treatment types and activities used in the initial treatments. The purpose of these treatments is to promote forest and watershed health, reduce fuel load, and demonstrate efficacy of climate beneficial prescriptions.