BAER Team Assessment

A number of plant communities and associations received burning at very high to severe intensities including Bishop pine forests, coastal scrub, northern coastal prairie and some Douglas fir forests. Many of these plant communities occur on steep slopes exceeding 60 percent. Soil associations within the burn are highly prone to erosion and are hydrophobic following exposure to moderate to intense fire. Erosion potential is very high in some region within the burn area due to this combination of factors and to locally high rainfall (14 in./mo.).

Fire suppression actions associated with containing and controlling the Vision Fire relied heavily upon direct and indirect mechanized bulldozer fireline construction. Bulldozer line construction totaling 23 miles of line occurred primarily within the wilderness; much of the dozer line construction occurred in the upper reaches of watersheds with impacts to existing trails with direct line construction on extremely steep and unstable slopes. Mechanized dozer lines in some areas traversed locations of known noxious weeds and increased the potential for spread of these species. Downslope of the line construction activities are numerous watersheds, riparian areas, wetlands and estuaries.

Both the fire and the fire suppression efforts exposed many cultural resources; Native American midden sites were uncovered, as well as historical ranch dump sites dating back to the turn of the century. In addition to the 45 structures destroyed by the fire, tens of telephone poles were damaged and an estimated 2,000 hazardous trees posed a risk to park visitors along roads and trails.