California State Parks -
Forest Management Strategies

Project Partners

California State Parks, Save the Redwoods League, Parks California, San Mateo Resource Conservation District, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, and CAL FIRE

Overview of Actions

ARC Forestry developed and completed two Forest Management Strategies (FMS), one for Big Basin Redwoods State Parks, Butano State Park, Año Nuevo State Park, and the other for the Forest of Nisene Marks State Parks that outline prioritized resilience treatment prescriptions by vegetation type and treatment unit on approximately 3,000 acres.

Existing ecosystem conditions were evaluated across approximately 30,000 acres of State Parks lands, including the installation of over 400 Forest Trend Monitoring Plots. The analysis provided a data driven and technical rationale for conducting ecologically restorative treatments to increase forest resilience.

ARC Forestry developed and supported the development of multiple CalVTP PSAs and a Statutory Exemption for Restoration Projects to achieve CEQA Compliance for over 30,000 acres for California State Parks to begin treatments.

ARC Forestry supported the development and award of two CAL FIRE Forest Health Grants to support treatment implementation with the San Mateo Resource Conservation District and the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County.

During project implementation, ARC Forestry was responsible for developing project specifications for contracts, conducting bid tours, evaluating bids, supporting contractor selection, developing ArcGIS Field Maps for operations, conducting project layout, and supervising treatment implementation, conducting winter period monitoring, including negotiations with State and Federal agencies for new avoidance measures for sensitive species such as Marbled Murrelet.

Additionally, ARC Forestry supported un-siloed capacity building for all partners to share our methods and expand regional capacity through training land stewards and contractors alike as part of our work.

Treatment Status

Over 1,000 acres are treated to date with the expectation for completion of the grant area in 2030.

LOCATION

Santa Cruz
San Mateo

TREATMENT ATTRIBUTES

Ecological Restoration and Resilience
Forest Health Fuels Reduction
Forest Density Reduction
Roadside Treatments
Hazard Tree Removal
Invasive Exotic Management
Forest Trend Monitoring

PROJECT COMPONENTS

Documentation

Two Forest Management Strategies – developed
CalVTP PSA – development and support
Statutory Exemption for Restoration Projects – development and support
Vegetation Treatment Specifications – developed
Contract and Request for Bid – development and support

Field & Operations

Operational layout and mapping completed supporting the implementation of the CalVTP SPR’s
Conducted permit compliance supervision on vegetation treatment implementation
Forest Trend Monitoring plots

STAFF INVOLVED

Steve Auten, Owner/RPF – project design and strategy, grant development, permit and document development, mapping, forest trend monitoring, and operational supervision
David Van Lennep, Chief Forester of Operations – direction, operational planning, forest trend monitoring, lead document development, contracting, and supervision
Shelby Kranich, Director of Forest Resilience – direction, grant development, lead permit and document development, field verification and layout, and operational supervision
Chloe Knowd, Senior Associate Forester – project layout, mapping, forest trend monitoring, operational planning, and operational supervision
Charlie Hillis, Assistant Forester III – project layout, mapping, forest trend monitoring, document development, and operational supervision
Heath Hooper, Assistant Forester II – mapping, permit and document development, and operational supervision
Daniel Auten, Lead Forestry Technician – marking trees, forest trend monitoring, field verification, and layout
Nolan Hayes, Lead Forestry Technician – marking trees, forest trend monitoring, field verification, and layout

California State Parks - Forest Management Strategies