San Andreas Ballpark
Summary
SCH Number
2026061138
Public Agency
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
(CAL FIRE)
Document Title
San Andreas Ballpark
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
6/25/2026
Document Description
The San Andreas Ballpark Project proposes fuel reduction treatments across approximately five acres surrounding the CAL FIRE Tuolumne–Calaveras Unit Service Center and approximately 25 acres within Alex Quinones Community Park. The project area is located within the community of San Andreas, Calaveras County, along Mountain Ranch Road and Pope Street. Alex Quinones Community Park provides recreational opportunities for residents of Calaveras County, including baseball fields, a disc golf course, and horseshoe pits. The CAL FIRE Service Center and the community park are situated within a grass–oak woodland vegetation type. The project will implement a combination of manual and mechanical vegetation treatment methods in preparation for broadcast burning. Broadcast burning will be used to reduce hazardous fuel loads, manage vegetative overgrowth, and control invasive plant species. Fuels may also be treated through hand piling, pile burning, and chipping. Hand piles will be chipped or burned, and remaining wood debris may be treated through broadcast burning during appropriate burn windows. Chips may be spread on site to a maximum depth of 6 inches. Ladder fuels will be reduced, and trees will be pruned up to a height of up to 12 feet. Ground based equipment will include tracked and/or wheeled chippers. Dozers may be used to construct containment lines during prescribed fire operations as well as for installing erosion control and performing other maintenance where needed. Future maintenance may include prescribed broadcast burning, and limited mechanical or hand treatments as needed, within the same project footprint using the treatment methods described above. The project area is adjacent to Mark Twain Hospital, multiple residential subdivisions, and other high-risk assets within Calaveras County. Implementation of the San Andreas Ballpark Project will reduce wildfire risk to the community of San Andreas and protect nearby values at risk, including critical infrastructure and residential areas.
Contact Information
Name
Roger Petersen
Agency Name
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)
Job Title
Forester II
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Phone
Location
Cities
San Andreas
Counties
Calaveras
Regions
Southern California
Cross Streets
Mountain Ranch Road and Pope Street
Total Acres
30
Township
4N
Range
12E
Section
20, 21
Base
MDBM
Other Location Info
Alex Quinones Community Park
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Declared Emergency
Type, Section or Code
Sec. 21080(b)(3); 15269(a)
Reasons for Exemption
Pursuant to CEQA Section 21080(b)(4) and CEQA Guidelines Section 15269 (c) a project is exempt from CEQA if it is a “specific action necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency.” On March 1, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency to exist due to catastrophic wildfire risks created by forest conditions and found that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist within the State of California due to these conditions. Pursuant to the Emergency Proclamation, a critical fuels reduction project qualifies for CEQA exemption if: (1) it has as one of its primary objectives at least one of the following activities: (a) removal of hazardous, dead, and/or dying trees; (b) removal of vegetation for the creation of strategic fuel breaks as identified by approved fire prevention plans, including without limitation CAL FIRE Unit Fire Plans or Community Wildfire Preparedness Plans; (c) removal of vegetation for community defensible space; (d) removal of vegetation along roadways, highways, and freeways for the creation of safer ingress and egress routes for the public and responders and to reduce roadside ignitions; (e) removal of vegetation using cultural traditional ecological knowledge for cultural burning and/or prescribed fire treatments for fuels reduction; or (f) maintenance of previously-established fuel breaks or fuels modification projects; (2) has been approved by the appropriate Agency Secretary, or their designee, as being eligible to be conducted under the suspension; and (3) is conducted in accordance with the State Environmental Protection Plan (EPP). This project’s primary purpose of 1.b, has been approved by the Secretary of Natural Resources as being eligible to be conducted under the suspension, and will be conducted in accordance with the EPP. The action is therefore exempt from CEQA. Documentation of the environmental review completed by the Department is kept on file at Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit Headquarters, 785 Mountain Ranch Rd, San Andreas, CA 95249.
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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