In Santa Clara County, there’s a growing effort to better prevent wildfires from ever starting.
On Friday, the Santa Clara County Firesafe Council showcased what it has done to make a forestland along Los Gatos Creek healthier and in turn, more resistant to catastrophic wildfires.
“You can’t see through a lot of these forests. A good healthy forest is where you can actually see and there’s good spacing between trees and not too many dead strands,” said Seth Schalet, CEO of Santa Clara County Firesafe Council.
With a grant from Cal Fire, the firesafe council has thinned out this forestland near Lake Elsman.
Before and after pictures show their progress.
“We are in a wildfire crisis, period. There is no silver bullet to get us out by doing treatments like this we are removing a lot of the fuels that contribute to high intensity fire. We can’t stop fires from getting in here and starting, but we can allow those fires to be more of a beneficial nature than a catastrophe,” said Ed Orre with Cal Fire.
Adding the next phase may include controlled burns…which also helps clear the forest floor and can improve its health.
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All the land shown on Friday belongs to San Jose Water. The council said the efforts also help protect the drinking water for about 100,000 people.
They also showed various agencies the fire sensors they’ve been using some sensors, use AI to detect different types of smoke and can alert fire departments early.
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All of this is to protect the water, homes, people and leave this part of the Santa Cruz Mountains with a more natural and fire-resistant forest.
