TO: Napa County Climate Action Committee
FROM: David Morrison, Special Projects Director
REPORT BY: Ryan Melendez, Planner II, Sustainability
SUBJECT: Presentation from Napa County Fire Administrator, David Shew, and Napa County Chief Building Official, David Giudice on fire resiliency strategies and efforts in Napa County
RECOMMENDATION
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PRESENTATION: Staff requests that the Climate Action Committee receive a presentation Napa County Fire Administrator, David Shew, and Napa County Chief Building Official, David Giudice on fire mitigation efforts in Napa County.
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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California
Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
California and wildfires have been intertwined for all recorded history. Nearly all of California's ecosystems have evolved to adapt to fires or are even dependent on fires to maintain ecosystem function and health. Fire can act as a catalyst for promoting biological diversity and healthy ecosystems, reducing buildup of organic debris, releasing nutrients into the soil, and triggering changes in vegetation community composition. Through decades of land management practices, such as wildland fire suppression and human expansions to wildlands and wildland-urban interfaces (WUI), many ecosystems have been altered, resulting in imbalances between wildfires and ecosystem interactions. For example, in forest ecosystems, dense tree cover and the effects of more frequent drought and other climatic change have led many areas to become more vulnerable to pests, disease, and more intense fire. The removal of natural fire from an ecosystem can lead to excess fuel buildup and changes in vegetation composition, which can increase the risk of uncharacteristically large high-severity fires.
Increases in uncharacteristically large wildfires can exacerbate impacts on both ecosystems...
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