Two news flashes from your Bayside Acres Firewise Team (BAFT): Chipper Day and Eucalyptus removal.
Chipper Day June 21 (actually, Chipper Week)
In the Bayside Acres community, FireSAFE Marin crews served 25 residents. Their available reservation slots were sold out, and our community alone accounted for almost a quarter of all work completed that week in the our general area. Between those 25 homes, 47 cubic yards of brush material was removed with an average of 2.35 cubic yards removed per residence. Congratulations to our neighbors in making our community more fire-safe!
For those who missed out or need a second day, there will be a Chipper Day/Week in September, and we will let you know when reservations are available.
Eucalyptus Removal
You may recall that, as a result of BAFT’s proposal to the County and our ongoing contact with FireSAFE Marin, they agreed to remove six eucalyptus trees at the hairpin turn that threaten the Bayview Drive evacuation route. (For more information wildfire preparation and evacuation specific to Bayside Acres, go to the Firewise section of our website).
Tree #6 was completely removed on July 7. The cost to the County of removing Tree #6 was $5,000, financed by the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA), but that was a relatively small tree. The estimate for the bigger trees on the inside of the hairpin is $25,000 each. This is your tax dollars productively at work on our behalf.
Removing these trees was only possible because of the strong support you have given to BAFT. The amount of time and money reported for clearing defensible space and home hardening has been impressive. The aggregate amount that we report annually to FireSAFE Marin is what qualifies Bayside Acres for those resources. Please keep track of the time and money you spend on wildfire risk mitigation and report it on our online Firewise Reporting Form throughout the year.
An article in a recent Marin IJ titled “Building fire-adapted communities“, written by the head of the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, explains the relationships among Firewise communities, FireSAFE Marin, and the MWPA. The creation of BAFT and your support of our efforts has had a big payback to our community and will continue to do so in the future.
We will keep you informed as the remaining five trees are removed over the summer. We hope to bring more good news on other projects later this year for which we have applied to MWPA and FireSAFE Marin for financial support, such as fire trail brush removal and the eucalyptus grove on Main Drive. Stay tuned!
Ogden Hamilton
Chair, Bayside Acres Firewise Team