This report aims to share lessons from the East Bay Hills to advance the conversation around collaborative agreements and working structures between jurisdictions, and, inform work relating to incentivizing the use and monetization of excess woody biomass. The East Bay Hills represent a particularly interesting area of study for several reasons. First, the region is very familiar with wildfire, having experienced one of the greatest urban firestorms the West has ever seen. Second, the region is highly fractured, crossing two separate counties and comprising over thirty local jurisdictions and fire districts. And third, in response to the Firestorm, the region set up a variety of local initiatives, as well as collaborative efforts between jurisdictions, to improve wildfire suppression and prevention planning efforts, but community leaders and fire officials agree that additional collaborative efforts are warranted.
Harnessing the Private Sector
Executive Summary and Key Findings
California’s wildfire risk is immense. Rapidly advancing climate change has raised average temperatures across the state, stressing ecosystems and increasing fuel loads to unimaginable levels. Eight of ten largest fires in state history have occurred in the last decade alone, with economic losses now regularly exceeding $10 billion per fire season. Communities in the wildland urban interface – an area defined by the close proximity of human development to unoccupied land – now face a nearly never-ending threat to
structures, livelihoods, and lives.
The increasing scale and aggressive behavior of recent fires have renewed and increased urgency among Federal, State, and local policymakers, but government and public dollars alone are unlikely to solve the problem. This report explores how jurisdictions of fragmented urban regions with high wildfire risk can come together to mitigate that risk, and how market-based opportunities for the reuse of woody biomass can bring new resources to bear.
Advancing collaboration and fuel reduction across jurisdictions
Several wildfire-prevention joint powers authorities have been launched in California to enhance planning, funding and implementation efforts, but in especially dense communities, other mechanisms may be more feasible, at least in the immediate term.
1. The community of those concerned about wildfire in the East Bay Hills believe that a regional political body, fueled by sound technical advice of fire officials and other experts, could support improved regional wildfire prevention initiatives.
In the aftermath of the deadly 1991 Tunnel Fire, local fire officials, community groups, and elected leaders and their constituents supported efforts to reduce wildfire risks such as removal of hazardous vegetation on public
lands, passing stricter local ordinances to mandate firesafe practices, and public-facing education and awareness programs. These efforts however have been unevenly implemented in the region, largely due to inconsistent political and community support, but also resource constraints and implementation challenges. Aligning the region’s elected leaders, fire officials, and the community on the priority of wildfire prevention could enhance local fire departments’ abilities to implement evidence-based wildfire prevention measures to improve public safety more consistently in the East Bay Hills.
2. Stakeholders decided that a basic legal mechanism – a Memorandum of Understanding – to create an East Bay Hills Regional Wildfire Prevention Coordinating Group (WPCG) is most appropriate now.
Given the diversity of jurisdictional entities in the region and resource challenges, a consensus emerged to use a relatively flexible and simple legal mechanism to create a regional collaboration mechanism. A Memorandum of Understanding that defines WPCG membership, structure, and general intent has been approved by respective governing bodies of interested jurisdictions. The WPCG strategic priorities, functions, operations and budget will be decided by members.
3. Although early in its existence, the WPCG may prove be a promising way for similar regions and communities to enhance safety standards and practices, reduce hazardous vegetation, and reduce wildfire risks in WUI communities.
The process for jurisdictions to adopt the WPCG MOU has been smooth and efficient. Jurisdictions’ attorneys quickly cleared the document for adoption. As of March 2024, Alameda and Contra Costa counties, six cities, and two fire districts have already – or are on track to – join the MOU; none have faced constituent or staff resistance. While the WPCG is yet to hold its first meeting, member jurisdictions have identified
code consistency as one of the first issues to address. Thereafter, the WPCG may consider cooperation on: code enforcement and public awareness efforts regarding defensible space and home hardening; reducing hazardous vegetation; planning wildfire evacuations and response especially where these efforts cross jurisdictional boundaries; and influencing legislation at the State level to support resources and policies to mitigate wildfire risk.
Market-based opportunities and challenges for utiliing woody biomass
It is unlikely that there will ever be enough public resources to fully fund the necessary level of fuel reduction efforts across California’s vast forested lands. It will therefore be essential to find ways to leverage private sector dollars to support fuel reduction goals and mitigate wildfire threats on an accelerated timeline. To incentivize and stimulate new markets, regions and policymakers should work to create an environment where these developing industries have the long-term support required to implement new technologies, scale up capacity, and build markets.
1. Converting woody biomass into high-value, low-carbon transportation fuels and other products is technically feasible and could one day provide a robust mechanism for fuel reduction across California’s forested lands.
Processes to convert cellulose-based feedstocks into low-carbon transportation fuels such as renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel exist and have progressed past the research and development phase. These technologies have the potential to simultaneously help California accomplish multiple key policy goals at once: rapid, large-scale forest fuel reduction treatments and the decarbonization of heavy industry and aviation sectors, two sectors where electrification will be particularly difficult if not impossible.
2. While technologies to produce high-value, low-carbon fuels and other products from woody biomass have been technically proven out, production methods, distribution networks, and market building will take a concerted effort and policy support over a sustained period.
Currently, these technologies sit in what is referred to as the “Commercialization Valley of Death,” between field validation and full deployment. This is a particularly difficult time in the lifecycle of any technology, let alone one working against cheap fossil fuels, competing for subsidies, and relying on access to vast swaths of public land. In fact, California’s first biofuels plant exclusively dedicated to the processing of cellulose-based biomass recently shuttered, a testament to the difficulty of scaling up production in new markets. If harnessing the private sector is to succeed, concerted policy support (and funding) over a sustained period will be essential.
3. Scaling up forest treatment efforts across the East Bay hills, let alone the state of California, will be an immense, multi-decade undertaking that will rely heavily upon positive interjurisdictional collaboration and sustained policy support for nascent markets.
The West is facing a challenge like nothing its ever seen before. The enormous scale of fuel reduction required after a century of suppression and now a rapidly warming climate will take interventions of equal proportion. This is complicated by the fact that wildfire does not respect state or jurisdictional lines, and is now equally impacting both rural and urban communities. This presents an additional set of challenges, that only close cooperation and the correct set of legal mechanisms can solve. There is also immense opportunity for the private sector to assist in these efforts, while simultaneously helping to achieve other climate goals such as climate-friendly fertilizer or a reduction in transportation emissions. However this too will require the right set of supports, both in policy and fiscally.