Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Developed a citywide assessment to identify wildfire hazards and risks.
• Identified and developed vegetation management units to guide a vegetation management strategy.
• Recommended homeowner mitigation strategies to reduce structure vulnerability.
• Recommended hazardous fuel treatment strategies to private landowners.
• Developed recommendations for fuels modification and resultant fire behavior.

Social Achievements

• Improved City eligibility for funding assistance from federal and state agencies.
• Implemented Goleta City Alert, an automated notification system.
• Launched "Goleta Prepare Now!" disaster preparedness initiative.
• Established a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program.
• Collaborated with Santa Barbara County Fire Department, Office of Emergency Services, and Santa Barbara Fire Safe Council on community preparedness.

Governance Achievements

• Collaboratively developed the CWPP with interested parties and federal land management agencies.
• Developed a Goleta-specific plan that exceeds the requirements of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
• Ensured compliance with local, state, and federal policies and regulations.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• High wildfire risk due to Mediterranean climate, flammable vegetation, and human development.
• Vulnerable populations with special needs for pre-planning.
• Balancing wildfire mitigation strategies with natural resource sustainability.
• Fiscal resource constraints.
• Limited data on vulnerable populations and structure vulnerability.

Mitigation Strategies

• Developed a science-based assessment with extensive field data gathering.
• Utilized existing and available natural resource science to minimize adverse impacts to natural resources.
• Collaborated on the concurrent development of the Monarch Butterfly Habitat Management Plan.
• Utilized minimum impact tactics during implementation of wildfire mitigation treatments.
• Developed recommendations for homeowner mitigation strategies and hazardous fuel treatment strategies.
• Identified and prioritized areas for fuel treatment projects.
• Developed a Goleta-specific plan that exceeds the requirements of a Community Wildfire Protection Plan.
• Sought external funding sources (grants, stewardships).

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Increased frequency and intensity of wildfires due to climate change.

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Wildfire Risk Reduction
• Environmental Protection
• Community Safety

Environmental Achievements

• Developed a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) that balances wildfire protection with sustainable ecological management and fiscal resources.
• Identified and prioritized areas for hazardous fuel reduction treatments, incorporating environmental protection measures.

Social Achievements

• Collaboratively developed the CWPP with interested parties, key stakeholders, local fire departments, and federal land management agencies.
• Developed educational resources for residents to enhance wildfire preparedness.
• Identified funding opportunities including grants for wildland fire protection.

Governance Achievements

• The CWPP adheres to all local, state, and federal policy and regulatory frameworks related to community wildfire protection.
• Established a CWPP Development Team to guide the process and ensure community involvement.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Wildfire hazard in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) due to continuous heavy fuels, steep slopes, strong winds, low fuel moistures, and a history of wildfire ignitions.
• Balancing wildfire protection strategies with natural and cultural resource sustainability.
• Securing funding for wildland fire protection projects.

Mitigation Strategies

• Developed a CWPP to guide future actions and prioritize hazard reduction efforts.
• Identified funding opportunities through grants (e.g., California Fire Safe Clearinghouse, CAL FIRE, FEMA).
• Implemented a collaborative planning process involving stakeholders and agencies.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Increased wildfire frequency and intensity due to climate change

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Healthy Forest Restoration Act (HFRA)

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 13: Climate Action

The CWPP contributes to these goals by reducing wildfire risk, protecting communities, and promoting sustainable land management practices.

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Launched an online prescribed fire permitting system
• Developed an interagency beneficial fire tracking system to streamline the review and approval of prescribed fire projects
• Launched pilot projects to undertake larger landscape-scale burns
• Undertook a comprehensive review of the state’s smoke management programs to facilitate prescribed fire while protecting public health
• Increased prescribed fire acreage treated annually (though specific numbers are not consistently quantified throughout the report)

Social Achievements

• Developed a state-financed program to enable tribes and cultural fire practitioners to revitalize cultural burning practices
• Established a Prescribed Fire Training Center to grow, train, and diversify the state’s prescribed fire workforce
• Developed the state’s new Prescribed Fire Claims Fund to address liability issues facing private burners
• Expanded programs to better educate the public on the benefits of beneficial fire

Governance Achievements

• Improved regulatory efficiency for prescribed fire through streamlining the permitting process
• Increased collaboration among state, federal, local, and tribal agencies on prescribed fire projects
• Implemented new policies and regulations to improve permitting, increase the availability of State-Certified Prescribed-Fire Burn Bosses, address liability issues and the lack of insurance, and tailor funding to prescribed fire activities

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Insufficient human and other resources for beneficial fire activities
• Regulatory hurdles and time-consuming permitting processes
• Lack of public buy-in and fear of liability
• Lack of insurance for private burners
• Lack of access to ancestral territories for tribes
• Seasonality of work and competing demands for fire management agencies
• Outdated smoke management guidelines
• Need to increase the size of beneficial fire projects

Mitigation Strategies

• Expanded training programs and workforce development initiatives
• Streamlined regulatory processes and online permitting system
• Established a Prescribed Fire Claims Fund to address liability issues
• Increased public education and outreach efforts
• Improved collaboration among agencies and stakeholders
• Pilot projects for larger landscape-scale burns
• Investment in weather and smoke prediction tools
• Modified suppression tactics to allow for fire managed for resource benefit where appropriate

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Increased wildfire risk due to climate change

Opportunities

• Improved ecosystem resilience to climate change through beneficial fire

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• SDG 13: Climate Action
• SDG 15: Life on Land

The initiatives outlined in the plan contribute to these goals by reducing wildfire risk, restoring ecosystem resilience, and promoting sustainable land management practices.