UC Berkeley among applicants for tree-cutting grant to mitigate wildfires

http://www.dailycal.org/2013/05/19/uc-berkeley-among-applicants-for-tree-cutting-grant-to-mitigate-wildfires/

UC Berkeley, the city of Oakland and the East Bay Municipal Utilities District have jointly applied for a federal grant to cut down 85,000 trees in the East Bay hills in efforts to mitigate the risk of wildfires.

The FEMA grant would allow the groups to remove non-native trees that pose the greatest fire hazard — such as eucalyptus, Monterey pine and acacia — while preserving native plants that pose a smaller risk. Between 1923 and 1991, the hills saw an estimated 15 major blazes, the most recent of which destroyed over 3,500 homes and cost more than $1.5 billion, according to a FEMA draft environmental impact statement of the project.