Cambria Forest Committee continues to work on recommendations and monitoring of Cal VTP projects in and around Cambria. CFC is also working with Cambria CSD and Fire Department to foster conservation on conservation-easement protected lots.
Want to learn more about trees? Watch this video on Common Trees of the Los Padres National Forest. ForestWatch’s Director of Conservation & Research (and resident plant nerd) Bryant Baker describes them and shows how to identify them.
The Poetics of Forests
The Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment, the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, and Orion Magazine present the fifth event in a series to celebrate Orion’s anthology, Old Growth, featuring a conversation between the award-winning poet Ellen Bass (Indigo and Like a Beggar) and Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-author of Journey of the Universe and co-director of Yale’s Forum on Religion and Ecology. Watch the video here.
New Times forest article
Cambria Forest Comnmittee is mentioned in an article on prescribed burning in New Times:
In Cambria, residents formed the Cambria Forest Committee to discuss fuel reduction projects, defensible space, and home hardening practices, Cambria resident Crosby Swartz said.
“We’re acting just like a forum for people to discuss things,” Swartz said. “It’s a matter of encouraging people to become aware of what people should be doing to reduce the fire danger.”
Swartz installed metal screens in his filters to prevent embers from blowing into his home, and every year, ensures that he meets the required 100-foot clearance around his home by pulling invasive weeds and brush and planting trees.
“We own some forested property, and of course, it’s our responsibility to maintain it in healthy and safe condition. We do most of the work ourselves, a lot of it is easy—pulling out flammable and invasive brush,” he said. “You don’t see immediate results, but after a few years it’s amazing the difference it makes. It seems like it’s an impossible task to improve what’s growing in the forest, but after years it does make a difference.”
Swartz said that he’d like to see a more selective approach to removing vegetation, by focusing on the dead plants or invasive species, and a stronger push for home hardening programs.
“Bryant Baker has done studies that show just blind fuel reduction of any kind of tree doesn’t make a difference in fire behavior, whether you have thinned the forest or not,” Swartz said. “If you have a hot windy fire, it doesn’t even get slowed down. That’s why it’s important to focus on the house because it’s been shown to work.”
Cambria Forest Committee welcomes all to its monthly meetings, the second Friday of the month, 10 am on Zoom. Lively discussion of current issues, such as the fuel reduction projects. Email CFC Chair Crosby Swartz for the link, crosbyswartz99@gmail.com
A summary of theUS Department of Interior and the US Department of Agriculture Joint Fire Science Program Fire and Fire Surrogate Study research and publications from 2000-2020 is posted at this page.
Tales from the Cambria Woods
In 2002, the Cambria Forest Committee collected columns about the forest that had been published in The Cambrian and published the collection as Tales From the Cambria Woods. Twenty years later, it’s time for Volume 2. What would you like to say about the forest? 1,000-1,500 words, although that’s flexible. Writers and artists, please contact the Forest Committee for more information.
Cambria Monterey Pine signs
Invasive Weed Guide
Every Cambrian lives in the forest. We share our landscape with the trees and wildlife. Donate now to the Forest Committee to defray publication costs of Cambria’s Guide to Invasive Weeds. Send a check for $8 (or more) to Cambria Forest Committee, PO Box 23, Cambria, CA 93428.
Weeds are taking over landscape and crowding out native plants. Weeds hurt the forest by changing the habitat for wildlife. they increase fire danger. Pull weeds on your own property and help your neighbors. Every weed you pull reduces the number of seeds that will sprout on your property next year. Connie Gannon, executive director of Greenspace–The Cambria Land Trust and a member of the Forest Committee’s board, wrote about it in The Cambrian.
Learn more about Cambria’s Invasive Weeds by joining iNaturalist on your tablet or smart phone. Find the Rogue’s Gallery of Weeds and add your personal Worst Weed of Cambria. contact us at forest@cambriaforstcommittee.org with questions.
Download a copy of the Forest Committee’s brochure, At Home in the Forest, from the Frequently Asked Questions page.
Read the Community Wildfire Protection Plan posted under Forest-Related documents.
Volunteer to help the Cambria Forest Committee preserve Cambria’s Monterey Pine Forest.
Would you like to pull weeds, get rid of those nasty invasives that are creeping into our forest? Do you have computer skills? Would you like to use your artistic talent to create informational materials that convey the forest’s beauty? What is your talent? The Forest Committee welcomes you. Contact us at forest@cambriaforestcommittee.org and we will put you to work.
What are TDCs?
In 1985, The Land Conservancy was selected as the implementing nonprofit agency as required for government agencies to operate the Transfer Development Credit Ordinance. Following the completion of the Cambria-Lodge-Hill Restoration Plan, the TDC program received seed money from the state Coastal Conservancy to begin retiring lots. Lots retired from development are permanently restricted to open space and their development rights can be transferred to areas in Cambria where development is better suited and which will have a reduced impact on the health of the native Monterey pine forest. The County directs landowners who wish to exceed present county development standards to The Land Conservancy to purchase TDCs. That money is then used to purchase additional undeveloped lots and retire them from development, and the cycle continues.
In March 2016, after a four year hiatus, the Cambria CSD accepted 52 lots from the Land Conservancy. That allows the program to continue. Read the news report here.
The CSD established a Buildout Reduction Committee to move the program forward. The committee’s report is posted at the link above.
Forest Management Plan
The Organizational and Funding Options for Implementation for the Cambria Monterey Pine Forest Management Plan is posted on the Forest-Related Documents page. The Forest Management Plan is posted here.
This site contains information about the Cambria Forest Committee including
The Committee meets on the 2nd Friday of the month at 10 am. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Contact the Committee by e-mail: crosbyswartz99@gmail.com
Contact us by mail at: Cambria Forest Committee PO Box 23 Cambria, CA 93428
Next Meeting: April 12, 2024 10 am, remotely via Zoom. Email for link to participate. Open to everyone.
