National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Point Reyes National Seashore, Point Reyes Station, CA 94956 Point Reyes National Seashore during the 1995 Vision Fire Point Reyes National Seashore Wildland Fire Resource Advisor Guide July 2007 Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 3 1.1 Purpose and Need for this Guide 1.2 Background 1.3 The Park Environment 1.4 Fire History 2 Vegetation Overview.......................................................................... 8 3 Sensitive Resources............................................................................ 10 3.1 Air Quality 3.2 Soil Resources 3.3 Water and Riparian Resources 3.4 Vegetation 3.5 Wildlife 3.6 Cultural Resources 3.7 Wilderness Values 3.8 Maps of Interest 4 Appendix 1: Vegetation Types............................................................ 19 5 Appendix 2: Rare Animal Species List............................................... 28 6 Appendix 3: Rare Plant Species List................................................... 30 7 Appendix 4: Cultural Resources List.................................................. 33 8 Appendix 5: Summary of Resource Protection Measures.................. 35 9 Appendix 6: MIT Guidelines.............................................................. 38 10 Appendix 7: References...................................................................... 48 PORE Resource Advisor Guide 2 of 50 1.0 Introduction This Resource Advisor (READ) guide is intended to be used as a tool by resource advisors in the event of a suppression incident at Point Reyes National Seashore (PRNS). This document contains recommended guidelines for fires within the PRNS jurisdictional area. The jurisdictional area is comprised of the 70,046 acres of PRNS and the 19,265 acres in the northern district of Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) that is managed by PRNS through an agreement with GGNRA. For the purposes of this FMP, the use of the acronym PRNS in reference to a geographic area will encompass the 90,311 acres managed by Point Reyes National Seashore including the northern lands of GGNRA. Point Reyes National Seashore policy requires that all wildland fires within the Seashore and within the North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area are suppressed. Primary goals with respect to fire suppression include firefighter and public safety, the protection of private and public property, and the protection of natural and cultural resources. 1.1 Purpose and Need for this Guide This document describes the natural and cultural resources at Point Reyes National Seashore and the North District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area that may be impacted during wildland fire incidents. It lists resource protection and/or mitigation measures sufficient to minimize the negative impacts resulting from certain fire management actions. The resource protection and mitigation measures listed in this document are in compliance with: • The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 United States Code (USC) 4321 et seq.), which requires an environmental analysis for major Federal Actions having the potential to impact the quality of the human environment; • The National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) (16 USC 470), which requires protection of historic properties significant to the Nation's heritage; • The Wilderness Act (16 USC 1131 et seq.), because the park manages areas proposed for wilderness designation; • The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) (19 U.S.C. 1536 (c), 50 CFR 402), as the Wildland Fire Management Program affects several Federally listed species and designated critical habitat. This guide is intended to serve as the primary reference for a Resource Advisor assigned to a wildland fire incident managed by the Seashore. 1.2 Background Point Reyes National Seashore was established by Congress on September 13, 1962 “to save and preserve, for the purposes of public recreation, benefit and inspiration, a portion of the diminishing seashore of the United States that remains undeveloped (Public Law 87-657). An amendment to Public Law 94-544 (passed in 1976) instructs the NPS to administer the Seashore without impairment of its natural values. Congress established GGNRA by Public Law 92-589 “in order to preserve for public use and enjoyment certain areas of Marin and San Francisco PORE Resource Advisor Guide 3 of 50 Counties, California (San Mateo County added by P.L. #96-607).” In addition to providing for recreation and educational opportunities consistent with sound principles of land use planning and management, the NPS was also instructed to “preserve the recreation area, as far as possible, in its natural setting, and protect it from development and uses which would destroy the scenic beauty and natural character of the area…” where park management is “supportive of the maximum protection, restoration, and preservation of the natural environment within the area.” The Seashore and the North District of GGNRA are bounded by California State Parks, Marin Municipal Water District, and private lands on the east and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. See Figure 1. Figure 1. Point Reyes National Seashore and Vicinity PORE Resource Advisor Guide 4 of 50 1.3 The Park Environment Point Reyes National Seashore is located in coastal Marin County, approximately 40 miles north of San Francisco. Most of the Seashore is comprised of an 88,046 acre peninsula that is separated from the California mainland by the San Andreas Fault. Inverness Ridge runs northeast along the peninsula and is paralleled by Bolinas Ridge on the east side of the San Andreas Fault. Elevation ranges from sea level to 1407’ at Mt. Wittenberg on Inverness Ridge. The climate in the study area is Mediterranean with wet winters and cool, dry summers. Average temperatures (°F) during the summer vary from the high 40s to the low-to-middle 70s. Summer precipitation is low, averaging less than 0.2 inches per month, due to the strong stationary high-pressure system located off the coast which prevents weather systems from moving through the area. Summer months are characterized by coastal fog. During the winter, average temperatures (°F) vary from the mid-to-upper 30s to the upper 50s-low 60s. About 84% of the precipitation in the area occurs between November and March. Average annual precipitation ranges from 20" near the coast to as much as 40" near the Bear Valley visitor center. Precipitation from fog drip has not been quantified for PRNS, but one study further north on the California coast (Requa, CA) found summer fog drip provided an additional 9-18" of water annually (Dawson 1998). Following the cessation of winter rains in mid-April, fuels dry rapidly and the light fuels of the annual grassland (2,000-7,000 lbs/acre) cure. During the summer months, live, dead and downed round wood material and duff in the understory of PRNS’s forest stands gradually lose moisture. Fire season at Point Reyes begins in early June. At this time, high-pressure air masses frequently stagnate over the Great Basin. Strong foehn winds, referred to as Mono winds in central California, may develop if there is a low-pressure trough off the coast. These winds bring warm, dry air to Point Reyes and cause rapid drying of fuels. These episodes usually last 1-2 days and fire danger can be extreme. In typical years, a persistent coastal fog bank is formed by July l, following the stabilization of the Pacific high over central California. From July through early September fog moves inland and back out to sea in a 3-4 day cycle in response to heating and cooling in California's Central Valley. Fine fuel moisture fluctuates in this cycle, while wood fuels and duff remain relatively wet. In mid-September the fog pattern changes and fuel moistures drop steadily. It is at this time that conditions contributing to Mono winds occur. The combination of prolonged drought, low relative humidity and a peak in fuel production often causes fire danger to be high through September and October. PRNS is comprised of a mosaic of forest, scrub, and grassland vegetation types. The mosaic of these vegetation types has been shifting on the peninsula for thousands of years (Anderson 2005). Natural and human disturbances such as lightning fires, Native American burning and ranching have caused these shifts. These three broad vegetation groups can be divided into more specific vegetation types. The main text of this guide provides a brief overview of the fire ecology of each of seven more specific vegetation types: bishop pine forest, Douglas-fir/mixed evergreen forest, coast redwood forest, maritime chaparral, coastal scrub, coastal grassland and coastal dune. Appendix 1 details the fire ecology of these vegetation types. 1.4 Fire History Fire regimes at PRNS have been affected by a long history of human settlement on the peninsula. The Coast Miwok are thought to have occupied the peninsula from at least 10,000 years ago (Cook 1976). One study (Treganza 1961) estimated that there were as many as 113 Miwok villages on the peninsula. While it is unlikely that they were all occupied concurrently, there PORE Resource Advisor Guide 5 of 50 were likely more humans inhabiting the peninsula at the time of Euro-American contact than there are presently. There is extensive evidence that Native Americans throughout California used fire to manage vegetation. There are many accounts that tribes living in areas dominated by a mixture of grassland and scrub vegetation