Sanborn and Upper Stevens Creek Forest Health Plan

County Parks is completing the Final Draft Forest Health plan. The County has conducted a series of stakeholder and public meetings in September and October 2022. The County is continuing to involve partners such as Cal Fire and Santa Clara County Fire in the development of project recommendations outlined in the Forest Health Plan. These stakeholder and public meetings informed neighboring property owners, land managers, public agencies and interested community members about the Forest Health Plan and the Department’s implementation of the plan.

Compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA):

To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), County Parks used the California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (Program EIR). The purpose of this approach was to streamline CEQA compliance for projects within the scope of the CalVTP Program EIR. Through development of the Forest Health Plan, County Parks has determined that all proposed activities are within the scope of the CalVTP Program EIR.

A Notice of Determination was filed with the County Clerk Recorder's Office to comply with CEQA (File No. ENV24730) and State Clearinghouse (SCH 2019012052).

Notice of Determination

Forest Health Plan Documents:

Forest Health Plan

Project Specific Analysis

Standard Project Requirements and Mitigation Measure Checklist

Cultural Resources Report (contains confidential records – full report not publicly available)

Biological Resources Memorandum

Background:

Santa Clara County Parks is in the planning process of developing a comprehensive Forest Health Plan (FHP) for the 4,713-acres of parkland in Sanborn and Upper Stevens Creek County Parks. The FHP is being developed in response to an increase in dead trees, crowded forest conditions and the increased threats of catastrophic forest fires. The Sanborn and Upper Stevens Creek Forest Health Plan identifies forest health projects to increase forest resiliency to drought, disease, pests, wildfire, and climate change. The FHP promotes adaptive management strategies in response to evolving forest threats and provides a framework for long term management. This approach to land stewardship will ensure continued public use of the park and its recreational activities for future generations.

Location:

This Forest Health Plan has been developed to guide forest management activities at Sanborn County Park and Upper Stevens Creek County Park. Both County Parks are located west of the City of San Jose in the Santa Cruz Mountain range. They are generally situated between Skyline Boulevard to the west and the City of Saratoga to the east.

Goals of the Planning Process:

Park forests are faced with many threats that increase tree stress, including: climate change, drought, fire suppression, tree density, pest and disease infestations, and wildfires. The purpose of the Forest Health Plan is to identify the stressors and threats in order to mitigate hazards to Park users and employees; identify projects and practices that promote forest resiliency; and to avoid or minimize impacts to other natural resources and recreational facilities.

The objectives of the Forest Health Plan are:

• Improve forest conditions to promote long-term forest health
• Remove hazards to public and infrastructure in use areas
• Monitor forest stressors and threats
• Identify areas to reduce wildfire threat to the Parks and nearby communities
• Implement best management practices to minimize effects of forest management activities
• Evaluate effectiveness of forest management activities

The County has retained Dudek Environmental to assist in the development of the Forest Health Plan. The consultants were chosen based on their wealth of knowledge and in-house resources for a professional forest health plan. Dudek has experience working in urban and rural forested environments and they also developed the Forest Health Plan for Mt. Madonna County Park in 2018. In addition, they have experience working in forests throughout California, specifically with CalFire in the Soquel Demonstration Forest in Santa Cruz County.