Upcoming Vegetation Management Project at Douglas Family Preserve
By the City of Santa Barbara
The City of Santa Barbara Fire Department and Parks and Recreation Department continue their ongoing collaboration to reduce wildfire risk in Santa Barbara's open space parks.
Crews will conduct a vegetation management project in Douglas Family Preserve on Wednesday, February 1, and Thursday, February 2, to reduce fuel loads and remove invasive plant species. Efforts will focus on removing Acacia pycnantha, commonly known as golden wattle, which is competing with the park's native vegetation, particularly coast live oak trees.
The project timing will allow for onsite chipping of the acacia and spreading of resulting mulch, as the target species is not currently in seed.
Chainsaws, hand tools, and a chipper will be used to conduct this work. While the park will remain open, the public is asked to use caution and leash dogs around crews. Signage has been posted at all entrances to remind park users of this request.
This is the first of many planned projects at Douglas Family Preserve, as the Parks and Recreation Department is in the process of updating the park's management plan.
7 Comments
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Feb 01, 2023 09:26 AMThese acacias are non-native, invasive and "can cause a variety of symptoms in people with an allergy depending on how they are exposed. Common symptoms include rash, itching, hives, stomach pain, nausea, diarrhea, sneezing, red eyes, runny nose, wheezing, and difficulty breathing. " (quote is from an allergy website, google "acacia allergy." These trees serve no practical purpose for local wildlife (they originated in Australia or Africa) and compete with native oaks for water and space. A good tree to eliminate.
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Feb 01, 2023 05:58 AMSounds good to me
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Jan 31, 2023 11:10 AMI’m stunned this type of work would be allowed at this location. The prevailing viewpoint in this area is that nothing should be done to maintain public spaces or mitigate fire risks. The only intervention allowed is absolute fire suppression which will accumulate a massive amount of dead vegetation over the years. The long term outcome of this plan will naturally be a catastrophic fire on the hottest and windiest day of the year that overwhelms all fire suppression efforts and turns the park into a moonscape. However, it’s not polite to talk about this eventuality among those who support this approach for the management of public land.
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Jan 31, 2023 03:44 PM"The prevailing viewpoint in this area is that nothing should be done to maintain public spaces or mitigate fire risks." - That's not true at all. You and I discussed the planned burns they were doing a week or so ago. Before that, there was another article about maintaining safe boundaries around homes. Just totally wrong.
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Jan 31, 2023 03:39 PMChip, been here since 82. no fires at the wilcox property dude....even back in the 80s when we would camp out there....or have raging keg parties with a band playing off of a generator...no fires.
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Jan 31, 2023 09:53 AM? the various plants, trees, flowers that were left over from the old nursery are part of the charm of the wilcox....leave it alone.
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Feb 01, 2023 09:29 AMThe acacias were not from the old nursery. They were dumped there in the 70's and 80's when local gardeners used the former "Wilcox" property as a convenient free dump. My family lived there as watched them dump them, many right behind the homes on Selrose Lane. The trees later reproduced and spread.