The El Dorado County Resource Conservation District (District) was awarded Proposition 40 grant funds through Department of Forestry and Fire Protection pursuant to the California Clean Water, Clean Air, Safe Neighborhood Parks, and Coastal Protection Act of 2002. The Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) for Placerville is identified on page 7 in the updated Strategic Planning Project Matrix, Appendix M, updated September 2005, of the El Dorado County Wildfire Protection Plan (EDCWPP). The EDCWPP was approved by FEMA in May 2005 as the Wild land Fire component of the County Multi-Hazard Mitigation Plan. The proposed plan was identified as a high priority by the Chief of the El Dorado County Fire Protection District. The scope of the plan encompassed the following: 1) Fuel treatment along roads, trails, and around structures and mature trees; 2) Construction of shaded fuel reduction zones; 3) Construction of a fuel break; 4) Ignition prevention; and 5) Fuel treatment maintenance. The Gold Bug Park Fire Safe Plan Implementation project successfully met the goals and objectives of reducing the number, size, and intensity of wildfires; modifying the existing high hazard fuels; ensuring defensible space is provided around structures; ensuring high risk practices are mitigated; ensuring fuel treatment measures are maintained; and promoting land management practices that: maintain a healthy stand of native vegetation, consider wildlife habitat, protect the soil, water, and the visual resources, protect Park structures and protect mature trees.
In 2009, The Gold Bug Park Fire Safe Plan Implementation project was effectively executed. The park is now up to date with their Fire Safe Plan requirements but remains in post-fuels reduction conditions. The woody debris from ladder fuels remains on the ground and the area was mostly cleared of vegetation, which was predominately whiteleaf manzanita, (Arctostaphylos viscida).The purpose of the Gold Bug Park Restoration Project and the Committee is to create a plan to restore the treated area to a condition that is useable for park visitors.
