Cal Fire uses science to assess fire risk

Cal Fire recently releaseed new fire risk maps for the wildland urban interface, and these were quite revealing. Instead of accepting the nativist view that the "origin" of the vegeration was relevant, Cal Fire examined the actual fire risk. Not surprisingly, when the nativist agenda was removed from the calculus, the results were substantially different from what the local nativist lobby (Fire Safe Councils, Claremont Canyon Conservancy, and others) have been advocating...wholesale removal of a few species of non-native trees.

Cal Fire's new maps paint an accurate picture of fire risk, no matter the origin of the vegetation species. In response to this good news, the nativist groups have started complaining, and are trying to pressure cities and other wildland managers to ignore the Cal Fire maps in favor of the nativist narrative.

Please join us in adding your voice to this debate by submitting a comment to the City of Berkeley before 5 PM 4/1. Here's the link to their comment form.

https://communityfeedback.opengov.com/portals/portal257/forum_home?active_issue_id=14358&phase=Open