If the past is anything to go by, out-of-control wildfires are a legacy Santa Barbara and the American West are facing as climate changes dry out the landscape and result in little or too much rain and many dead or dying trees. While the properties of people living in the foothills and mountains are most at risk from a big wind-driven fire, even downtown Santa Barbara faced evacuation west of Garden Street at the height of the Jesusita Fire in 2009, as did Montecito and Goleta in subsequent fires.
Every year, dozens of smaller fires begin but are quickly extinguished, as manpower and air power are poured onto each of them. But parts of Los Padres National Forest — which borders thousands of homes across Carpinteria, Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Goleta — haven’t burned in 90 years, forest officials say. In particular, forested lands at higher altitudes and some interior areas of chaparral would benefit from some controlled return of fire, they explained during a scoping session on Monday night for the new Ecological Restoration Project being prepped for an Environmental Assessment.
The history of fire suppression in Los Padres goes back to the 1920s. What used to be open stands of healthy trees have become overcrowded groups of pines, firs, and some oak woodlands over the past century. The “Forest Health” part of the Eco plan will thin 60 stands across 48,000 acres using mechanical and hand-cutting of trees up to 24 inches in diameter, and mowing, masticating, or chipping surface and ladder fuels. The cut trees and brush would be pile-burned, and prescribed understory burns would take place at intervals.