Features

Crews from the University of California were scheduled to cut down a grove of nearly 12 acres of eucalyptus trees at the head of Claremont Canyon Friday in a move campus officials said is designed to prevent wildfires in the hills. 

According to UC spokesperson Carol Hyman, the grove that occupies a low saddle on the slope of the East Bay Hills is a serious fire danger because it sits in a natural funnel that directs hot easterly Diablo winds down through dense chaparral in Claremont Canyon. 

The university planned the cutdown as part of its effort to reduce fire danger in the canyon and make the UC property safer and more attractive. 

The deforestration is being carried out in cooperation with East Bay Regional Parks, East Bay MUD and the City of Oakland in a collaborative effort to reduce the danger of wildfires. 

The work site for the project is the intersection of Claremont and Grizzly Peak boulevards. 

Hyman said the area being cut has been the site of several recent suspicious fires.