SANTA MARIA ROAD PRESCRIBED BURN

Potential Risks of the Santa Maria Road Prescribed Burn

1. Habitat Degradation
The Santa Monica Mountains contain some of the most biologically diverse remaining coastal habitats in Southern California. Fire can alter habitat structure, reduce cover for wildlife, affect sensitive species and drive wildlife into nearby community yards. If ecological benefits are uncertain, residents should understand what ecological risks are being accepted.

2. Short-Interval Fire Effects
Published research has documented concerns that repeated fires in chaparral ecosystems can promote conversion to flammable invasives or flashy fuels and reduce fire adapted native shrub communities. Whether this risk exists at the project site has not been publicly explained.

3. Wildlife Impacts
The burn is proposed during a period when many birds, reptiles, mammals, and other wildlife may still be using the area for breeding, nesting, shelter, or foraging. The public has not yet seen biological surveys or mitigation measures addressing these impacts.

4. Smoke and Public Health
Even a planned burn produces smoke. Nearby residents, children, older adults, and people with respiratory conditions may experience health impacts during and after the operation.

5. Questionable Wildfire Protection Benefits
The agencies claim the project will reduce wildfire spread and intensity. However, the most destructive fires affecting nearby communities are typically driven by Santa Ana wind conditions. Published research and National Park Service guidance have raised questions about whether prescribed burning alters the behavior of those fires or makes nearby communities safer.

6. Irreversible Impacts
If the burn proceeds and the expected benefits fail to materialize, the habitat impacts cannot be undone. Once vegetation is burned, the action cannot be reversed.

7. Public Funds
Public funding appears to be supporting this project. Residents have a legitimate interest in knowing whether the expected benefits are supported by evidence before taxpayer dollars are spent.

Within the next 30 days, public agencies plan to intentionally burn approximately 53 acres of native habitat near Santa Maria Road in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The stated purpose is to reduce wildfire spread and intensity, protect nearby communities, improve ecosystem resilience, and help firefighters combat future wildfires.

There is one problem.

The scientific evidence for those claims in Southern California chaparral is not supported by actual science.

In fact, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area itself has publicly stated that prescribed fire is not effective at stopping the wind-driven wildfires responsible for the greatest home losses in Southern California. The National Park Service has also stated that prescribed burning does not fulfill an identified ecological need in chaparral and coastal sage scrub ecosystems.

Likewise, published research by leading Southern California fire scientists has found no evidence that prescribed burning reduces wildfire risk to nearby communities.

Despite these findings, agencies are preparing to burn 53 acres of habitat. with public funds, while claiming community wildfire protection benefits that have not been publicly demonstrated for this project.

STOP THE SANTA MARIA ROAD PRESCRIBED BURN

Before 53 acres of public land are intentionally burned, the agencies involved should be required to demonstrate that the project is likely to achieve the benefits being promised and that the public interest outweighs the environmental risks.

We urge residents to contact the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA), the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Los Angeles County Fire Department, and elected officials and request an immediate pause until the scientific basis, environmental documentation, and project funding records are released for public review.

The burden should be on the agencies to prove that this project will work before it proceeds—not on the public to prove that it will not.

Please call:

Ken Nelson
Chief, MRCA Fire Division at (818) 880-4752 extension 3

Suggested message:

I am calling regarding the proposed Santa Maria Road prescribed burn. I understand the project is being promoted as reducing wildfire risk and improving ecosystem health, but I have not seen evidence supporting those claims for chaparral ecosystems in the Santa Monica Mountains. I am worried about the negative impacts. I am requesting that the project be paused until the scientific basis and risks are released for public review.