A plan by the U.S. Forest Service to create a five-mile long fuel break along a ridgeline about 16 miles north of Ojai — as the crow flies — has come under a challenge from environmental organizations, two public interest law firms, the City of Ojai, and the County of Ventura. They charge the plan will remove trees up to 64 inches in diameter and old-growth chaparral, vegetation in use by California condors and other endangered, threatened, or sensitive species. The project will essentially harvest large, old, and smaller trees, opponents charge.
Called the Reyes Peak project, the Forest Service states a fuel break would thin stands of trees — mostly pine — which are too numerous for the amount of water available, and also remove ladder fuels among the pines, and chaparral in stands of oak trees. Some of the pine trees are infested or at risk of infestation by the boring beetles that have killed millions of pines in the state.
But the Forest Service received about 16,000 comments on the project, "over ninety-nine percent in opposition," according to the complaints filed in the Central District Court by project opponents. Reyes Peak straddles Pine Mountain, about a 40-mile drive up Highway 33 from Ojai. It's a remote area very popular with hikers and campers for its trails, views, picnic benches, and occasional snowfall. Three wilderness areas — the Sespe, Matilija, and Dick Smith — surround it in Los Padres National Forest, and the area may become wilderness if the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act passes the Senate.
