Laguna Grande Understory Thinning Project (EPP Project No.: ee9891e4-7a07-4475-8b83-4e3e4dc79b78)
Summary
SCH Number
2026090635
Public Agency
Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District
Document Title
Laguna Grande Understory Thinning Project (EPP Project No.: ee9891e4-7a07-4475-8b83-4e3e4dc79b78)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
9/16/2026
Document Description
The District will conduct manual understory thinning on approximately 12.8 acres within Laguna Grande Regional Park to reduce hazardous fuel loading in areas of dense ladder fuels and brush adjacent to residential and commercial development in the cities of Monterey and Seaside.
Work is limited to manual treatment. Brush and ladder fuels 6 inches DBH and under will be thinned, and trees over 6 inches DBH will be retained and may be limbed or pruned to create up to 8 feet of vertical separation from the crown. Removal will prioritize dead, diseased, and invasive material. Brush outside the tree canopy will be thinned to a functional mosaic with horizontal spacing of roughly twice the height of the brush layer in order to retain habitat and prevent type conversion. Low-growing herbaceous understory may be retained at an average height 18 inches for erosion control and habitat. Rare and sensitive species will not be treated, and prescriptions may be reduced in sensitive habitats, including wetlands, where manual work will occur only during dry periods.
Cut material will be chipped in place or lopped and scattered to a depth not exceeding 3 inches in sensitive areas and 6 inches elsewhere; large downed logs over 10 inches DBH will be laid flat and retained as habitat. Biomass left on site will be placed where it cannot enter water bodies. Equipment is limited to hand and light powered tools, 4x4 trucks, UTVs, and trailered chippers, which will remain on established roads and service road-trails. No new roads will be constructed and no significant ground disturbance will occur.
The purpose of the Project is to reduce the risk of a catastrophic wildfire originating in or spreading through the Park, to improve emergency ingress and egress along evacuation routes, and to reduce roadside ignition risk. Beneficiaries are the residents and businesses of Monterey and Seaside and the surrounding Monterey Peninsula communities, emergency responders, users of District lands, and the habitat resources of the Park itself.
Contact Information
Name
Jake Smith
Agency Name
Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District
Job Title
Planning & Conservation Program Manager
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency
Address
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Monterey, Seaside
Counties
Monterey
Regions
Citywide, Northern California
Cross Streets
Canyon Del Rey Boulevard and Freemont Boulevard, at Laguan Grande Regional Park
Zip
93940
Total Acres
12.8
State Highways
Route 1 and Route 218
Airports
Monterey Regional Airport
Schools
Bay View Academy, Del Rey Woods Elementary, Ord Terrace Elementa
Waterways
Canyon Del Rey Creek, Laguna del Rey, Roberts Lake, Frog Pond
Township
16S
Range
1E
Section
UND
Other Location Info
The project area is located within an Undefined Section of Township 16S, Range 1E, of the Seaside Quadrangle. This Section is undefined due to original Spanish Land Grant.
APNs: 011-401-022-000, 011-371-019-000, 011-381-008-000, 013-053-001-000, 013-053-002-000, 013-053-003-000, 013-141-008-000.
Notice of Exemption
Exempt Status
Emergency Project
Type, Section or Code
Sec. 21080(b)(4); 15269(b)(c)
Reasons for Exemption
Under Public Resources Code section 21080(b)(4) and CEQA Guidelines section 15269(c), a specific action necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency is not subject to CEQA.
On March 1, 2025, Governor Newsom proclaimed a State of Emergency to exist within the State of California due to the catastrophic wildfire risks created by forest conditions across the state, finding under Government Code section 8558(b) that conditions of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist as a result of those conditions. Paragraph 2 of the Proclamation suspends state statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements within the jurisdiction of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) and the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) -
expressly including CEQA, Public Resources Code sections 21000 et seq. - to the extent necessary for expediting critical fuels reduction projects. Executive Order N-38-25, signed December 31, 2025, extended the Proclamation. Under the Proclamation, only projects submitted by May 1, 2026 are eligible for a secretarial suspension authorization.
Under the Proclamation, a critical fuels reduction project may proceed under the suspension where (1) it includes as a primary objective at least one of the activities listed in Paragraph 4 of the Proclamation; (2) the appropriate Agency Secretary, or the Secretary's designee, has determined that the project is eligible to be conducted under the suspension (Paragraph 3); and (3) the project is carried out in accordance with the Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan (EPP) (Paragraph 5).
The Project satisfies each condition:
1. Primary objectives. The Project has as primary objectives the removal of hazardous, dead, and/or dying trees; the removal of vegetation for community defensible space; and the removal of vegetation along roadways for the
creation of safer ingress and egress routes for the public and responders and to reduce roadside ignitions - Paragraph 4(a), (c), and (d) of the Proclamation.
2. Secretarial suspension authorization. CalEPA issued a Secretarial Suspension Authorization for the Project on March 4, 2026, signed by Catalina Hayes-Bautista, Undersecretary, as designee of the Secretary for Environmental Protection. CNRA issued its Secretarial Suspension Authorization on March 10, 2026, signed by Wade Crowfoot, Secretary for Natural Resources. Both authorizations find that the Project was submitted by May 1, 2026, that it has a permissible primary objective, and that issuance serves the purpose of expediting critical fuels reduction activities while protecting public health and the environment. The CNRA authorization expressly suspends Public Resources Code sections 21000-21189.91 (CEQA) and all implementing regulations as to the Project.
3. Environmental Protection Plan. The Project will be conducted in conformance with the Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan (EPP), as required by the Secretarial Suspension Authorizations.
Consistent with the EPP, the Project involves manual treatment only, no new road construction, no watercourse crossings, and no significant ground disturbance. District staff have reviewed the Project and identified no circumstances that would preclude reliance on this exemption.
The suspension applies only to state statutes, rules, and regulations. The District will comply with all applicable local and federal requirements, including the federal Endangered Species Act as to any federally listed species, for which the
District will coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Documentation supporting this determination - the Proclamation, Executive Order N-38-25, the EPP, the District's suspension application and project maps, the Cal EPA and CNRA Secretarial Suspension Authorizations, and the CDFW Biological Resources Advisories - is on file with the District's Planning and Conservation Management Department at 4860 Carmel Valley Road, Carmel, CA 93923 and is available for public review. Project details may also be found online at the CalEPA/CNRA/CALFIRE Request to Suspend State Statutes and Regulations Application and Dashboard (https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/44774e7d2cb1438ca901a38793e2fdec/page/Approved-Projects-Dashboard).
County Clerk
Monterey
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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