Old Oak Ranch Road Fuel Break Maintenance Project

The proposed project will reduce hazardous fuel loading and maintain an approximate 300-foot wide shaded fuel break along Old Oak Ranch Road near the community of Cedar Ridge, from Big Hill Road to Northridge Road. The project area is approximately 16 acres in size. The project area ranges in elevation from approximately 3,381 to 3,725 feet above sea level. The objective of the project is to reduce hazardous fuel loading and maintain the shaded fuel break along Old Oak Ranch Road, which is important for ingress and egress for residents, Old Oak Ranch Camp and Retreat Center, and the Sierra Outdoor School. Vegetation at the site would best be described as Sierra Mixed Conifer; however, there is a significant amount of canyon live oak and California black oak in the overstory. Overstory tree species consist primarily of ponderosa pine, sugar pine, white fir, incense cedar, California black oak, canyon live oak, and interior live oak. The project area has been masticated in the past and the understory consists primarily of live oak, black oak, poison oak and toyon sprouts ranging from two to ten feet in height. Surface and ladder fuels will be reduced or modified by mastication, chipping, or by hand cutting, piling and burning or lopping and scattering. Mastication may be conducted by a variety of track laying type tractors. Hand work for chipping, as well as piling and burning or lopping and scattering will be conducted by hand crews using chainsaws and other hand tools. Trees less than 12-inches in diameter at breast height (dbh), surface fuels and ladder fuels will be treated to achieve a target residual tree spacing of 25 to 30-feet between stems. Residual trees will be pruned to a height of approximately 8 to 10-feet above ground level. Dead trees of any size may be felled and chipped, piled and burned, or masticated. Masticated or chipped material will be left on site. The reduction in vegetation will create a shaded fuel break condition that will minimize fire behavior and create a stand structure that is resistant to stand replacing fires.