East Garzas Fuel Break Maintenance and Expansion Project (EPP Project No.: 0f84a9da-ddeb-4c7e-81de- 09871cld21a0)
Summary
SCH Number
2026090644
Public Agency
Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District
Document Title
East Garzas Fuel Break Maintenance and Expansion Project (EPP Project No.: 0f84a9da-ddeb-4c7e-81de- 09871cld21a0)
Document Type
NOE - Notice of Exemption
Received
Posted
9/16/2026
Document Description
The District will conduct manual understory thinning on approximately 17.8 acres within Garland Ranch Regional Park (GRRP) to reduce hazardous fuel loading in areas of dense ladder fuels and brush adjacent to residential communities in Carmel Valley. Within this project area, 7.5 acres have been identified for prescribed pile burning.
Work will primarily be limited to manual treatment, though follow-up treatment with prescribed herbivory (goats) and limited herbicide application have also been approved, as necessary. 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. Standing dead trees will be removed to reduce fuel loading and ember cast protentional. 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. Rare and sensitive species will not be treated, and prescriptions may be reduced in sensitive habitats, including seasonal streams, culturally sensitive areas, and areas identified to support sensitive species.
Cut material will be hand piled on location (6 ft x 6ftx x 4ft) and left to cure through the dry season. Hand piles will be burned in the wet season. If pile burning is not possible due to weather or permitting issues, then woody residue (piles) may be chipped in place or lopped and scattered (no greater than 3-inch fuel bed thickness in sensitive areas). 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/egress, to improve firefighter access to the park, and to serve as a fuel break providing protection between the backcountry and the community. Beneficiaries are the residents and businesses of the Carmel Valley community 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
Carmel Valley
Counties
Monterey
Regions
Northern California, Unincorporated
Cross Streets
East Garzas Road
Zip
93924
Total Acres
17.8
Parcel #
189-111-023-000, 189-111-026-000, 189-111-032-000
Schools
Tularcitos Elementary School
Waterways
Carmel River, Las Garzas Creek
Township
17S
Range
2E
Other Location Info
Project is located in an undefined section of Township 17S, Range 2E, of the Carmel Valley Quadrangle.
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 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. Cal EPA 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 9, 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, prescribed pile burning, prescribed herbivory, and
limited herbicide application 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 Project involves manual treatment, prescribed pile burning, prescribed herbivory, and limited herbicide application 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 CalEPA 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.co m/experience/44774e7d2cb 1438ca90la38793e2fdec/ page/ App roved-Projects-Dashboard).
County Clerk
Monterey
Attachments
Notice of Exemption
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