The East Bay Regional Park District announced the completion of a major fire-fuel reduction project at Anthony Chabot Regional Park this week. 

Over the past three years, the district has been working to thin and remove dead and dying trees and other dangerous vegetation on 667 acres in order to reduce fire risks at the park. 

The project included the “large-scale” removal of eucalyptus trees and the use of a “climate-friendly” carbonizer to dispose of debris. The low-emission carbonizer creates biochar, which is used to improve soils and increase water retention, according to EBRPD officials. 

The project was prompted in part by climate change and a drought-induced tree die-off in several parks, which in some areas killed half of the trees, park officials said in a news release Monday.

“The Anthony Chabot project tackled mostly dead and dying eucalyptus, a notoriously flammable and difficult-to-handle tree,” said Khari Helae, the park district’s assistant fire chief. “Thinning and removing eucalyptus is essential to slowing wildfires and giving firefighters time to stop them before they become out of control.”

Similar projects are planned or underway at Tilden and Claremont Canyon regional parks, as well as the Leona Canyon Open Space Regional Preserve. Also, a 16-person crew works year-round on vegetation management projects — along with goat, sheep and cattle grazing — on 86,800 acres annually, according to park officials.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.