Environment

Group Questions Plan To Remove Chapparal In Cleveland National Forest

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published April 1, 2010 at 9:15 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

One of the best kept secrets of the chaparral is its remarkable wildflowers. Pictured here is a Humboldt's Lily (Lilium humboldtii) found at the base of Viejas Mountain, San Diego County. A walk through the chaparral between January and May offers a nearby, peaceful alternative to visiting other, more distant wildflower display locations.

Group Questions Plan To Remove Chapparal In Cleveland National Forest

The California Chaparral Institute wants the U.S. Forest Service to change a plan that includes removing native shrubs to reduce wildfire risk.

The Institute doesn't like the Forest Service proposal to remove chapparal and other vegetation from 5,000 acres in the Cleveland National Forest.

The Forest Service project would use prescribed fire, tree thinning and mechanical shredding of chaparral.

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David Hogan is a Chapparal Institute board member.

He said removing vegetation within 100 feet of homes would be more effective.

"There really is no rational reason to go in and mechanically shred hundreds, if not thousands of acres of native chapparal vegetation," said Hogan.

He said the chapparal is important to sustain wildlife and for watershed management.

Hogan also believes removing chapparal could allow more highly-flammable and non-native weeds to take the shrubs place.

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Marian Kadota with the U.S. Forest Service said the Institute's comments will be considered in formulating a final proposal.

She said the public will have a chance to comment on the final plan later this summer.

Environment

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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