Tensions among mountain residents were reignited by the recent announcement of plans to clear 200 acres of vegetation in the Camino Cielo, Painted Cave, San Marcos Trout Club and Haney Tract communities – all under the guise of fire prevention.

The problem began in November with the chipping and removal of chaparral on the West Camino Cielo ridge overlooking the Goleta Valley. At the time, a few angry neighbors yelled at a contractor and called the Los Padres National Forest Service over what they saw as destruction of natural habitat. Now those same neighbors are again trying to stop the Forest Service from finishing the job.

Forestry contractors resumed clearing operations on August 19 and expect to complete the project in about a month, depending on wildfire and other conditions.

According to the Forestry Administration, the project will create or extend firebreaks to reduce vegetation and mitigate potential impacts of forest fires, protect surrounding mountain homes and preserve the area’s wildlife and natural resources.

However, some residents question the planning, oversight and remediation processes involved. Danny Lewin, for example, sees the project as “irreversible destruction” of an ancient, “delicate chaparral ecosystem” based on “arbitrary, reactive” decisions. He says the plans are overblown, questions their effectiveness, and claims they are rushed and based on outdated analysis. Others have called it outright “logging,” since native chaparral trees, including manzanita and yucca, are among the casualties of mountain clearing.

On the other hand, the Forest Service has spent decades maintaining firebreaks throughout the Santa Ynez Mountain Range. The fire mitigation work that includes Camino Cielo and other communities is part of the Santa Barbara Mountain Communities Defense Zone project, which completed public review in 2017. These firebreaks are designed to give firefighters some ground to cover the next time a major fire occurs.

“This project is well documented and has been going on for some time,” said Seth Mitchell, deputy wildland fire protection officer. “It’s just a continuation of a community protection project. Of course, some community members support it, some don’t. But if we didn’t have the overwhelming support, we would probably reconsider.”

At a community meeting in February, District Ranger Daryl Hodges apologized for the lack of communication regarding the implementation of the project on the West Camino Cielo ridge.

He said that while it will “look chaotic at first”, environmental mitigation measures are planned – including tackling “unavoidable” invasive weeds and identifying and planting native plants with greater fire resistance – and that the land will recover over time. He also said that they will use hand crews and targeted fires rather than shredding methods in all future work, based on community feedback.

“Yes, there is an environmental trade-off, but the truth is that the 1,000 acres included in the Santa Barbara Mountain Community Defense Zone and Camino Cielo Fuel Defense Zone projects pale in comparison to the more than 281,000 acres burned by the Thomas Fire,” Hodges wrote to the Independent in March. “As we said several times during the community meeting: It is an opportunity or a choice.”

While a select group of Camino Cielo chaparral lovers are seeking to thwart the Forest Service’s plans, others are supporting the firefighting measures that “the homeowners have been wanting and waiting for for 15 years,” as Kenna Hickman, a member of the Camino Cielo Firesafe Community and a resident of West Camino Cielo since 1985, puts it.

(Click to enlarge) Left: The recently approved firebreaks that form the Santa Barbara Mountain Communities Defense Zone add to the existing firebreaks that extend 40 miles across Camino Cielo. Right: The proposed firebreaks highlighted in red, including West Camino Cielo, extend a total of 411 acres. | Photo Credit: Courtesy

She called the Camino Cielo ridge a “high-risk area” of the mountain, comparing it to a “fire crater.” She said she was disappointed in how the Forest Service was treated when it first tried to implement the project in November, and said the few neighbors who opposed it simply had the “loudest” voices.

Both protesters and firebreak supporters say they want to protect their community one way or another. Hickman and other residents told the Independent that these fuel treatments are important for fire prevention and firefighter protection, stressing that the destruction caused by out-of-control wildfires and noxious smoke is far worse than a few hundred hectares of cleared bushland. Hickman also highlighted the high cost of fire insurance.

“Some people have never experienced what it’s like to experience a wildfire in our area,” Hickman said. “We just don’t want the worst to happen.”