The Forest Protection Committee and Outings sponsored a hike on July 20, 2025, to learn more about forest management methods. It was an educational hike in Butano State Park. We were very fortunate to have Timothy Federal (Senior Program Manager Forest Health and Fire San Mateo Resource Conservation District) and Kellyx Nelson (Executive Director San Mateo Resource Conservation District) lead the hike and stimulating presentations and discussions. There were about 25 hikers on this very informative three-mile hike.
We learned about recently completed work in Butano State Park that included thinning (removal of some trees), removal of dense understory, and prescribed fire to help the forest recover from historic clearcut logging, fire suppression and the 2020 wildfires. We saw active forest management firsthand and discussed ecological resilience, sensitive habitats, and wildfire risk. We learned that long-term forest stewardship improves resilience to climate change impacts such as drought, pests, and wildfires.
Multiple hikers spoke about how much they learned and how they enjoyed seeing the project firsthand in the field. One commented that he better understood the nuances of active forest management including prescribed burns to promote biodiversity.
We thank Timothy and Kellyx for leading this hike. The Forest Protection Committee and Outings look forward to sponsoring more educational hikes in the future.