July 6, 2011

UCSB, County Fire Department to Conduct Prescribed Burn on Lagoon Island

George Foulsham

The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER), the UC Santa Barbara Fire Protection Division, and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department will conduct a prescribed burn on UCSB's lagoon island on one day during the week of July 22-29.

The burn will be part of the ecological restoration of the area, according to Lisa Stratton, director of ecosystem management at CCBER. "The burn is part of a management effort to control non-native grasses and establish native coastal bluff scrub vegetation," Stratton said. "We will be conducting the burn on the day with the least amount of fog, in order to get a hot enough burn to reduce the viability of the non-native seed bank."

Stratton said officials are hoping to conduct the burn on Saturday, July 23, weather permitting.

This will mark the fourth year that UCSB has conducted the burn. Funding for the project is from the students of UCSB, through the Coastal Fund, Stratton said. UCSB officials have all necessary permits for the burn from the Coastal Commission and the Air Pollution Control District, and campus officials have conducted a fire safety meeting with Santa Barbara County fire officials.

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