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Group Sues San Diego County Over Fire Protection Project

Group Sues San Diego County Over Fire Protection Project
Environmental groups are supporting a lawsuit by the Chaparral Institute that challenges part of San Diego County's fire protection plan.

Environmental groups are supporting a lawsuit by the Chaparral Institute that challenges part of San Diego County's fire protection plan.

The California Chaparral Institute is suing the county over a vegetation management project.

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The California Native Plant Society and the San Diego Sierra Club are backing the legal challenge.

Richard Halsey is the Director of the Chaparral Institute.

He says the county is required to include public meetings and provide scientific oversight before starting a project to remove trees and shrubs in natural areas.

But Halsey says the county is not working in a collaborative way with fire agencies, conservation organizations, private land owners and other groups.

"So we've asked repeatedly in various venues to try to help them work with all of us," Halsey says. "But that just hasn't worked. So this lawsuit from my perspective is really a failure to communicate on both sides."

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Halsey says San Diego County spends less on fire protection than any other county in Southern California.