Securing Your Neighborhood

As you drive up and down Empire Grade, you have probably noticed the outstanding vegetation management work that the Ben Lomond Camp Crews have done on our grant funded fuel break projects. Many of you have asked, How can I get the crews to work for me.

The bad news is that you can't – State law prohibits the crews from working for private individuals, or directly on their legally mandated defensible space. The good news is that as a 501(c)(3) community organization we can help you get crews to work on neighborhood projects for the greater good, such as clearing along access roads or chipping a neighborhood's cleared brush.

Here are the steps:

1. Talk to your neighbors, come up with a project, and compile a list of interested homeowners.

2. Contact us and set a date for us to visit your neighborhood, evaluate the project, and scope the work to be done.

3. Collect the necessary money to hire the crews, $220/day, and get those of your neighbors who are interested to fill out and sign the required permission and hold-harmless agreements.

4. We will generate and submit the formal project request to the camp.

5. Officers from the camp will come to your neighborhood and make the final decision on the viability of the project.

6. Finally, decide on a time-frame for the project and we will schedule the work with the camp.

A Happy Fire Safe New Year to All!