UC LBNL (Berkeley Lab or the Lab) and UC Berkeley have jointly identified three prime areas for wildfire hazard reduction on land owned by the Regents of the University of California.  These hazard reduction areas (polygons) are on lands managed on behalf of the UC Regents by either UC LBNL or UC Berkeley. The primary goal of the UC Wildland Fire Hazard Reduction Project is to reduce wildfire risk in and immediately adjacent to the Berkeley Lab campus in order to further protect Berkeley Lab and the Berkeley hill community in the event of a wildfire. A second goal is to ensure the integrity of Berkeley Lab’s primary evacuation/emergency vehicle ingress/egress route via Cyclotron Road, as well as that of Centennial Drive and other roads on the Lab site that would be used in an evacuation.

The Project would be implemented in three phases totaling about 16 weeks of work during 2024 through 2026.  Each phase would corresponding to one of the three polygons: the ~24-acre Southwest Polygon in the Berkeley Lab campus’s southwestern area, which includes an adjoining UC Berkeley campus area; the ~5-acre Northwest Polygon in the Berkeley Lab campus’s northwest area; and the ~6-acre Northeast Polygon in the Berkeley Lab campus’s northeastern area, which includes an adjoining UC Berkeley campus area.   All work would be actively monitored by onsite biologists and post-project restoration and maintenance would be implemented.