The Oak Park Fire Safe Council has just received a $623,000 grant from Cal Fire that provides funding to reduce the fire hazard along Medea and Lindero Creeks in Oak Park. These open space riparian areas are wholly owned and maintained by Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District (RSRPD), which will be working with us closely on this project.
Ventura County Fire Department’s Fire Hazard Reduction Program and Home Ignition Zone guidelines call for mitigation of fuels within 100 feet of structures to provide defensible space. There are more than 100 structures in Oak Park within 100 feet of these two riparian areas.
This project provides funds to support RSRPD efforts to mitigate and maintain the reduction of fuels on park district land that is subject to Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) requirements for defensible space. Most of the work described in the Scope of Work will be performed by RSRPD and/or its contractors, with Oak Park Fire Safe Council providing some oversight, grant management and communication to the community.
Because of the extensive cost of environmental studies and permits required for the removal of fuels within riparian areas, RSRPD has already secured a grant to reduce the likelihood, extent and severity of wildfires in Medea Creek by removing invasive and dead fuels as well as reducing the volume of hazardous native fuels in an environmentally compliant and sensitive way (including CEQA permitting). Which of these “targeted fuels” will be thinned or removed is being determined by VCFD.
The scope of our grant will ensure defensible space compliance for the Oak Park Community by supporting RSRPD with the cost of initial wildlife surveys, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) permitting, initial mitigation for Lindero Creek, as well as subsequent maintenance along both Lindero and Medea Creeks through March, 2029.
The area to be treated is approximately 44 acres and contains no habitable structures.
Contracting will begin soon, and we expect to begin the initial wildlife surveys and CEQA permitting process in approximately six months. Residents can expect to see actual brush mitigation along the creeks toward the end of next year.
We are pleased to work with our Ventura County Wildfire Collaborative (VCWC) partners and Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District on this important project.
See images below for the areas around Lindero and Medea Creeks that are impacted.
Lindero Creek Project Area
Media Creek Project Area
Our grant is a portion of a larger $2,991,000 grant that was awarded to the VCWC, led by the Ventura County Resource Conservation District. The purpose of the Ventura County Wildfire Collaborative is to increase Ventura County’s Wildland Urban Interface communities’ ability to prepare for, withstand, respond to and recover from wildfire by providing critical education, tools and services. This project will conduct 1233 acres of fuel reduction. A small portion of the proposed funding will also allow the collaborative to provide an educational accompaniment to inform residents of the purpose and importance of all types of fuel reduction and to reach indigenous, migrant and farmworker communities. The VCWC is composed of the Ventura County Resource Conservation District, the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council, Oak Park Fire Safe Council, Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council, Bell Canyon Fire Safe Council, Jensen Hughes and the Ventura County Fire Department.
Please reach out to Doug Wilson at (747) 299-9823 for further details.
