Albany Council adopts seven-phase Albany Hill forest management and habitat restoration plan, authorizes US Forest Service grant application

The Albany City Council on March 3 adopted the Albany Hill Forest Management and Habitat Restoration Plan and authorized staff to apply for a U.S. Forest Service wildfire/community resilience grant to fund initial work.

The plan, developed by city staff with Restoration Design Group (RDG) and multiple agency partners, lays out a seven-phase implementation that alternates eucalyptus removals with native habitat restoration. The city described the approach as adaptive: early phases remove hazardous trees at the site periphery and test replacement tree species, followed by interior restoration and targeted work in the monarch butterfly clustering area only after multi-year monitoring.

——— "This project is a compromise. It's a compromise that meets goals from all of those areas," said Kirsten Negus, landscape architect with Restoration Design Group and an Albany resident, describing the plan's effort to balance fire safety, monarch habitat and native restoration.

Natural Areas Coordinator Margo Cunningham told the council the plan resulted from more than four years of study and consultation with UC Berkeley, East Bay Regional Park District and the U.S. Forest Service, and included tree-health assessments, monarch and fuel-load studies and public engagement.

The plan proposes to avoid wholesale removal of trees in the plan's —critical monarch zone—; instead staff will monitor the area and remove trees there only if they become hazardous. The plan recommends —patch planting— and early field trials of candidate replacement trees to identify species that can provide long-term monarch habitat while tolerating local climatic and slope conditions. Candidates mentioned by RDG include kauri, Canary Island pine, Foothill pine and Catalina ironwood.

RDG estimated the total cost to implement all seven phases at about $3 million, and staff said the work could be completed in as little as seven years but could take up to 10 years depending on funding. To reduce costs and erosion risk, the plan recommends reusing logs and mulch produced by on-site removals for habitat delineation and restoration.

Fire Chief Jim Boito, joining the meeting remotely, said the plan would improve wildfire safety and access for firefighters: "The project... is gonna set a great example of wildfire safety measures being taken and still being able to protect habitat," he said.

Councilmembers praised the plan's detailed phasing and interdepartmental coordination and approved a motion to adopt the plan and authorize staff to apply for the U.S. Forest Service grant and to accept and expend award funds if granted. The motion passed unanimously.

Next steps: staff will submit the U.S. Forest Service grant application, begin Phase 1 activities if funding is awarded, and coordinate monitoring, public outreach and contractor selection. The council and staff emphasized phased grant-seeking to fund work incrementally so later phases can proceed when funding is secured.