Anonymous
Update by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department
September 14, 2022
USCB Prescribed Restoration Burn: This prescribed burn is a partnership between SBC Fire, UCSB, APCD, and the Cheatle Center.
Burning(Operations) is an art form in planing, firing, communications, fuel management, fire behavior, weather prediction, and communications.
Photo: SBCFD
By UC Santa Barbara
September 13, 2022
UC Santa Barbara’s Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (The Cheadle Center) will coordinate with County Fire and the Air Pollution Control District, with funding from the Associated Students Coastal Fund to conduct their 7th prescribed burn on Lagoon Island since 2011.
Aerial View of UCSB’s Lagoon in 2019 (Photo: John Wiley)
When
September 14, 2022
Approximately 10 a.m.
Where
UC Santa Barbara Lagoon Island
What
The half acre burn will be conducted using dried coyote brush branches as a fuel additive. Over the past few burn cycles, the Cheadle Center’s lagoon steward has focused on establishing a diverse pallet of native annual wildflowers and a few native coastal sage scrub species. These wildflowers include native poppies and lupines and many locally rare species such as redmaids, toadflax, Nuttall’s snapdragon, and more. By significantly reducing the seed bank of the non-native ripgut brome, it is possible to establish these fragile, unique species that support native pollinators.
The ideal conditions for a burn include low humidity, no inversion layer, and wind blowing from the interior offshore or down the coast. The period of active smoke is roughly thirty minutes. Fire personnel and Cheadle Center staff will monitor the site for flare-ups throughout the day to ensure the fire is extinguished.
Contact Lisa Stratton for questions – stratton@ccber.ucsb.edu
Images below show the 2020 burn and below that the recovery of wildflowers the ensuing spring.
Crickets! Where are those folks jumping up and down about controlled burns in the Los Padres NF? Right, WTF? If controlled burns are good enough for the UCSB Department of Biodiversity, it’s sure to be good enough for public lands! The green warriors need to get over it and smell the burnt pine needles, stop the activism and stop putting lives and property in danger! Simply ask the folks in Paradise, CA. about how they feel about fire suppression.
I hope these projects consider the reptiles and small animals being displaced by the continued removal of brush. Seems easier to remove then replace looking at what’s currently happening. The pathway and old patches of blacktop also have valuable historic purpose and work great as pedestrian pathways. And why remove all the brush? Hasn’t this idea of “native species” gone a bit too far? From what I see there was no effort to water and save the majestic pine trees that are now dead. Would have been a great save. I just hope this project doesn’t replicate the disaster over at Ocean Meadows golf course. Perfect paths were removed, reduced and nothing but a big dry hole excavated. The housing that went in didn’t have a problem though! Keep it simple folks.