Mill Creek Defensible Space and Roadside Fuel Reduction (EPP Project No.: d87d0796-3deb-4464-8a09- e9cfae7f6f2b)
Summary
SCH Number
2026090637
Public Agency
Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District
Document Title
Mill Creek Defensible Space and Roadside Fuel Reduction (EPP Project No.: d87d0796-3deb-4464-8a09- e9cfae7f6f2b)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
9/16/2026
Document Description
The District will conduct manual understory thinning on approximately 37 acres within the Mill Creek Redwood Preserve to reduce hazardous fuel loading in areas of dense ladder fuels and brush adjacent to Preserve infrastructure and ingress/egress routes.
Work is limited to manual treatment. Brush and ladder fuels 8 inches DBH and under will be thinned, and trees over 8 inches DBH will be retained and will be limbed or pruned to create up to 8 feet of vertical separation from the crown. Dead/dying oaks infected with SOD may be thinned regardless of size. Work will follow established SOD hygiene BMPs, and no woody material will be removed from site. Treatment 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 an average of 18 inches and under will be retained for erosion control and habitat. Rare and sensitive species will not be treated, and prescriptions may be reduced in sensitive habitats, including seasonal stream, areas of slide potential, culturally sensitive areas, and areas identified to support sensitive species. Timing of treatment of areas of invasive French broom (Genista monspessulana) may be modified to limit seed cast potential.
Cut material will be chipped in place or lopped and scattered to a depth not exceeding 4 inches in sensitive areas and not to exceed 8 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 Preserve, to improve emergency ingress and egress along arterial evacuation routes, and to reduce roadside ignition risk. Beneficiaries are the residents of the Palo Colorado community and the surrounding Monterey Peninsula
communities, emergency responders, users of District lands, and the habitat resources of the Preserve itself.
Contact Information
Name
Jake Smith
Agency Name
Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District
Job Title
Planning & Conservation Program Manager
Contact Types
Lead/Public Agency / Project Applicant
Address
Phone
Email
Location
Coordinates
Cities
Palo Colorado, Big Sur
Counties
Monterey
Regions
Northern California, Unincorporated
Cross Streets
Palo Colorado Road at Mill Creek Redwood Preserve
Zip
93923
Total Acres
37
State Highways
Highway 1
Waterways
Mill Creek, Turner Creek, Bixby Creek, Rocky Creek, Siera Creek
Township
18S
Range
1E
Other Location Info
The project is area is roadside and linear in nature, and includes portions of Sections 9, 10, 11,13, 14, and 24 of Township 18S, Range 1E of the Big Sur Quadrangle.
The project area is located entirely within the bounds of the Mill Creek Redwood Preserve.
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 (Cal EPA) 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 the creation of strategic fuel breaks as identified by approved fire prevention plans; the removal of vegetation for community defensible space; 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; and the maintenance of previously established fuel breaks or fuels modification projects - Paragraph 4(a), (b), (c), (d), and (f) of the Proclamation.
2. Secretarial suspension authorization. CalEPA issued a Secretarial Suspension Authorization for the Project on July 16, 2026, signed by Alana Mathews, Deputy Secretary for Law Enforcement and General Counsel, as designee of the Secretary for Environmental Protection. CNRA issued its Secretarial Suspension Authorization on July 17, 2026, signed by Keali'i Bright, Undersecretary, as designee of the 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/44774e7d2cb1438ca90la38793e2fdec/page/Approved-Projects-Dashboard).
County Clerk
Monterey
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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