Fire safety, forest preservation, environmental protection
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Mixed-species forests retain moisture, generate fog, mitigate fire risk.
Photo by Deane Little, DeaneLittleImagery.com
Photograph by Indira Nair
Mixed-species forests retain moisture, generate fog, mitigate fire risk.
HILLS CONSERVATION NETWORK
A San Francisco Bay Area community organization committed to fire safety, forest preservation and environmental protection.
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Hills Conservation Network was founded in 2007 by residents of the East Bay hills to reduce wildfire danger while preserving the unique, precious woodlands in our backyards which we humans, and countless wild plants and animals, consider our home. We work with local agencies to implement effective, species-neutral, wildfire risk mitigation strategies.
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Since its inception, HCN has filed three lawsuits, all of which were settled with terms favorable to our environmental goals. Litigation is not our preferred means for resolving deforestation and vegetation management conflicts — it's expensive and time-consuming — but we resort to it after exhausting all else.
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HCN's Board of Directors understands, first hand, the risks of inadequate wildfire preparation and ineffective vegetation management. Many of us suffered personal losses in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire, yet we still choose to live in the wildland urban interface (WUI) of Claremont Canyon.
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We are committed to ensuring that wildfire, increasingly common in California, will never again do such tragic and avoidable damage in the Oakland/Berkeley hills.
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Funds raised by HCN primarily pay for legal services. A very small amount pays for administrative support. All of our board members are unpaid.