On June 4, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve a pilot project to help fund the removal of invasive eucalyptus trees within defensible space of structures or roads within District 2, i.e. North County.
The pilot project, intended to mitigate wildfire risk, is funded by $1 million of state funds and will last up to three years. It was spearheaded by state Sen. John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, and District 2 Supervisor Glenn Church, and will launch on a first-come, first-serve basis sometime this summer.
In a county news briefing on June 5, Church said there’s already about 75 people lined up, but that applications will have to be made to his office once the program goes live (he hopes that can happen by Aug. 1).
The program will pay for half of an accepted applicant's costs to remove or trim eucalyptus trees on private land within 100 feet of a structure or road. Per a county report, the average cost of removing a single eucalyptus tree is about $5,000.
Find the full article here: https://www.montereycountynow.com/blogs/news_blog/supervisors-approve-p…