Vegetation Management at Helen Putnam Regional Park

Helen Putnam Regional Park is a 216-acre wilderness park southwest of Petaluma. The project aims to reduce fire hazards in the wildland-urban interface and maintain healthy grasslands and oak woodlands using targeted grazing, manual fuel reduction, and prescribed fire. Scope of work includes targeted grazing, selective limbing and thinning of woody material, and implementation of prescribed fire including pile and broadcast burning of woody material and grasslands. Burns will occur during appropriate weather conditions, in compliance with an approved smoke management plan, and may include re-burning all or part of burn units. Control lines will utilize existing roads, trails, and constructed handlines. Burns will be conducted using hand ignition and other standard prescribed fire methods. If work takes place within bird nesting season, surveys will be conducted to identify and avoid sensitive nesting areas. Ground disturbance will be minimal and limited to areas determined to have no impact to sensitive resources such as cultural resources and/or special status species.