Albany Hill

Update 10/13/2022:

The City contracted with Bay Area Redwood to mill about 10 logs from 3 large blue gum eucalyptus. The trees were felled as part of the pilot project noted below in which CalFIRE National Guard Hand Crews felled about 15 dead or dying trees on Albany Hill.

Bay Area Redwood brought in a portable milling operation to the hill to process the logs into over 2000 linear feet of lumber. The City plans to use the lumber for railings along trails and for retaining walls along roads and trails on the hill. The miller also provided slabs from the logs that can be used for benches.

Scouts working on their Eagle projects and Urban Tilth's Watershed Stewardship Field Crew will install the lumber.

Update 9/30/2022: Photos below show milling felled eucalyptus into lumber, which is used to create material for retaining walls and split rail fencing on Albany Hill.

UPDATE 8/31/2022: The City has started a pilot project on the declining Blue Gum Eucalyptus on Albany Hill. Suffering from pathogen attack and drought, several trees have died or are nearly dead and create a potential fire and safety hazard. This September, Cal Fire National Guard Hand Crews are felling about a dozen dead eucalyptus trees along the crest fire road and the trail on the north side of the hill. Cutting them down will not only reduce hazardous conditions to people and structures but reduce the potential for fires that may harm wildlife habitat on the hill.

Once the trees are felled a secondary part of the project will provide further community benefits. Branches and leaves will be chipped and spread back on the hill. Bay Area Redwood, a company that reclaims felled urban trees, will oversee milling select logs onsite for reuse as posts, railings, and retaining wall material along trails and roads on Albany Hill. The milled wood will be installed by Eagle Scouts and the City's local non-profit partner, Urban Tilth, which provides environmental work to young people from historically disinvested communities. Leaving chips onsite and repurposing logs onsite reduces landfill waste, transportation emissions, and resulting greenhouse gas emissions.

To ensure public safety, areas of the park including part of Taft Ave., will be closed while the felling and milling take place. Cal Fire crews may be called away for fire management throughout the state during this fire season, which may cause delays to the project. For more information, contact the Public Works Department at 510-524-9543, or via email to apworks@albanyca.org.

• 03-14-2024 Staff Memo
• 03-14-2024 Community Design Presentation Executive Summary(PDF, 4MB)
• 03-14-2024 Community Design Presentation Slides(PDF, 15MB)
• 03-14-2024 Video of Community Design Session

At the Parks, Recreation, & Open Space Commission the project team gave a presentation about the Albany Hill Forest Management and Habitat Restoration Plan. They shared their progress at this middle stage of project design, exploring each primary criteria area, and asked for feedback from the Commission and the public to inform the suite of components that will be incorporated into the Plan.

The project team also circulated an online survey to get input from the public about issues they felt important to see in the Plan. The survey closed at the end of April.

In the fall the project team will return to the Commission with a draft Albany Hill Forest Management and Habitat Restoration Plan for review and discussion.

• 11-08-2023 Community Workshop Presentation Slides(PDF, 17MB)
• 11-08-2023 Community Workshop summary and responses to comments(PDF, 277KB)

Have you heard that things will be changing on Albany Hill? Are you wondering what's going on with the Eucalyptus trees? Do you want to learn more about how the monarchs will or won't be affected? Curious about fire safety in our community and how we can restore native habitats?

The City of Albany wants your input on creating a comprehensive plan for the phased removal of dead and dying eucalyptus trees on City property on Albany Hill. The project has a lot of opportunities - active restoration of native plant ecologies, protecting habitat for monarchs and wildlife, reducing fire and safety hazards, and fostering self-sustaining ecosystems with minimal maintenance requirements.

Please join City staff and our planners and biologists for an informational session, Q&A, and discussion.

Date: Wednesday November 8, 2023
Time: 7-9 pm
Place: Albany Senior Center, 846 Masonic Ave., Albany

Plan Development

City Staff released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for consultants to work with City staff and advisory bodies on the Albany Hill Forest Management Plan. This Plan is being developed include but is not limited to the following elements:

• Phased removals of dead & dying Blue Gum Eucalyptus Trees
• Replacement plantings of tall forest trees
• Native understory survey and analysis
• Analysis and design of additional native plantings to be implemented

On July 17th, 2023, consultant selection and contract award were brought to the City Council for approval. The City selected Restoration Design Group (RDG) with subconsultant Nomad Ecology (Nomad) to develop the plan. Staff are currently working with the consultant on drafts of the plan. Plan development is funded by a Wildfire Resilience Program Grant awarded to the City by the State Coastal Conservancy.

Habitat Restoration Intern Program

The City has established an intern program to increase understanding of Albany Hill's plant and animal communities. See section "Habitat Restoration Intern Program" further on this page.

The establishment of this program is supported by a Wildfire Resilience Program Grant awarded to the City by the State Coastal Conservancy.

Indigenous Partnership Program

City staff and representatives of the Confederated Villages of Lisjan (Ohlone) are discussing opportunities for collaborative work and community education. Consultation regarding culturally and ecologically significant plant species will be incorporated during development of the Tree Removal and Habitat Restoration Plan.

Wildfire Safety

The City will continue to perform wildfire safety and hazard mitigation activities while the Plan is in development.

The Fire Department continues to regularly patrol Albany Hill to monitor for fire safety issues while the Albany Hill Forest Management Plan is in development. The City's contract with Urban Tilth for vegetation management on Albany Hill is a continuing part of the Public Works Creeks & Open Space Maintenance Program. Staff and Urban Tilth will continue to perform hazard mitigation activities as needed, including mowing grasslands, pruning vegetation along fire roads, removing dead and downed material, and planting annual and perennial natives with lower fire risks.

In the Fall of 2020, City staff noticed the decline of the Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees on Albany Hill. The resulting scientific analysis over the following year determined that the trees were in irreversible decline due to drought stress and resulting vulnerability to pathogen attack, and that fire danger on the Hill would continue to increase.

Immediately necessary removals of dangerously decayed trees (<20) were performed by a contractor under supervision by the Public Works Department. An additional 300-400 trees were determined to be in various states of irreversible decline. The City Council established the Albany Hill Eucalyptus Project for addition to the Capital Improvement Plan (Project No. 41015) and appropriated local funds to support the initiation of the project.

• City Council Update & Capital Project Establishment - October 2021 (Reso. No. 2021-105)
  • October 2021 Meeting Agenda & Presentation Video
• PROS Commission Update - May 12, 2022 (Item 5-1)
• City Council Update & Coastal Conservancy Grant Application - May 2, 2022 (Reso. No. 2022-41)
  • Meeting Agenda & Presentation Video May 2022

The City is working to continuously monitor and address hazards associated with the vegetation on Albany Hill. The City has been awarded State Coastal Conservancy grant funding for development of a systematic Tree Removal and Habitat Restoration Plan. This Plan will be designed to be implemented over a number of years, with consideration for the complex ecological factors affecting the Hill as a whole. Additionally, a High-Level TRAQ-L3 Safety Assessment has recently been completed, with documents to be posted as presentations are made to the City Council. An expanded Monarch Butterfly Habitat Assessment is still in progress.

Project Overview

• Albany Hill Project Map(PDF, 535KB)
• East Bay Regional Park District Regional Map of Tree Die-Off
  • EBRPD Full Map(PDF, 15MB)
  • EBRPD Albany-Only Map(PDF, 15MB)
• Bay Area Tree Mortality Overview

New Assessments & Studies

• TRAQ L2 Arborist Report - SBCA Tree Consulting (July 2021)(PDF, 10MB)
• Eucalyptus Dieback Report - Matteo Garbelotto, Principal Investigator, U.C. Berkeley (August 2021)(PDF, 2MB)
• Eucalyptus Water Stress Report - Dr. Curtis Ewing, Senior Environmental Scientist, CalFIRE (September 2021)(PDF, 2MB)
• TRAQ L3 Arborist Assessment - McNeil Arboriculture Consultants (March 2022)(PDF, 14MB)
• Assessment of Drought and Fire Impacts and Fuels Management on Monarch Butterfly Habitat - Stuart B. Weiss, PhD, Creekside Science (November 2022)(PDF, 9MB)
• Characterization of Fuels, Fire Hazards, and Recommendations - Carol Rice, Cheryl Miller, Wildland Res Mgt (December 2022)(PDF, 7MB)

Previous Assessments & Planning Documents

• Albany Hill & Creekside Park Master Plan (2012)(PDF, 5MB)
• Monarch Habitat Assessment - Stuart B. Weiss, PhD, Creekside Science (2018)(PDF, 5MB)

Albany Hill Forest Management & Habitat Restoration Plan

• Award of Consultant Contract to RDG & Nomad Ecology

Coastal Conservancy Wildfire Resilience Program Grant - $230,000

• Coastal Conservancy Public Meeting Agenda - Sept 22, 2022
• Coastal Conservancy Staff Recommendation - Sept 22, 2022 (Albany Project Details: pp2, 8)

Albany has been awarded a California State Coastal Conservancy grant to support the Albany Hill Eucalyptus Project.

In May 2022, City staff provided an update to the City Council regarding the Albany Hill Eucalyptus Project (CIP No. 41015). At that time, the Council authorized staff to submit an application to the California State Coastal Conservancy's Wildfire Resilience Program, with the intention of supporting the following three project elements:

• Project Planning & Design: Developing a nuanced and thoughtful removal and restoration plan for the drought- and pathogen-stricken Eucalyptus forest on the Hill. This plan will provide guidance for removing dead and diseased Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees while minimizing impact to local flora and fauna, including the Monarch butterflies, which use Albany Hill as an overwintering site. The plan will also include analysis and preliminary design of replacement trees and native plantings, to avoid hillside erosion and renew the Albany Hill landscape for residents and wildlife to enjoy for generations to come.
• Fire Safety: The City's Fire and Public Works departments currently partner with local nonprofit Urban Tilth to manage vegetation and ensure that Albany Hill continues to be fire-safe while the removal and restoration plan is in development. Urban Tilth's Watershed Stewardship Restoration Field Crew works year-round on the hill to reduce fire hazards by mowing grasslands, pruning vegetation along fire roads, removing dead and downed material, and planting natives, which have lower fire hazards. Grant funding will support extending the current contract by an additional year.
• Education & Research: Grant funding will make possible the establishment of a Habitat Restoration Intern Program and an Indigenous Partnership Program to increase our understanding of plant and animal communities on the hill, which will help in our development of more fire resilient, healthy ecosystems in Albany going forward.

On September 22, 2022, the Coastal Conservancy Board authorized funding for 27 projects, including Albany's proposal. Albany will receive a total of $230,000 to fund the above efforts.

Local Funding - $100,000

Agency Partners

• CalFIRE
• California State Coastal Conservancy
• East Bay Regional Parks District
• University of California, Berkeley
• US Forest Service

Project Participants & Support

• Bay Area Redwood
• CalFIRE National Hand Guard Crews
• Carol Rice, Wildland Res Mgt
• Cheryl Miller, Wildfire Prevention, RLA
• Dr. Curtis Ewing, CalFIRE, Senior Environmental Scientist
• Eagle Scouts
• Kirra Swenerton, Ecologist
• Matteo Garbelotto, U.C. Berkeley, Principal Investigator
• McNeil Arboriculture Consultants
• SBCA Tree Consulting
• Stuart B. Weiss, Chief Scientist at Creekside Science
• Urban Tilth Watershed Stewardship Restoration Field Crews

• 12-03-2024 Video of Site Walk on Albany Hill

Following up from the information session/workshop on November 8, City staff, planners, and biologists led a walk on Albany Hill on Sunday December 3rd to see and learn more about the eucalyptus, monarchs and their habitat, and native plant and wildlife habitat.

City staff from Public Works and Fire were joined by planners and biologists to lead over 50 people on the Albany Hill Community Site Walk to understand more about the condition of the eucalyptus, fire safety, native plant and wildlife habitat, and monarchs. The walk was part of the community outreach process for developing the overall Forest Management and Habitat Restoration Plan for city property on Albany Hill. Participants were appreciative of the opportunity to learn and ask questions, and at the end everyone enjoyed seeing monarchs clustering on eucalyptus branches at the summit of the hill.

To get on the email list for the project and receive future updates, please send an email message to AlbanyHillEucProj@albanyca.org. This email will remain active and throughout the project to address questions and concerns about the project. We look forward to seeing you out on the Hill!