Westwood Hills & Napa Open Space
A coalition to keep our communities fire-safer.
One of the critical areas of our work is the fire mitigation efforts that Napa Open Space makes a priority. There are various ways that we help lessen the effects of fire in our open spaces ranging from partnerships with our cities and fire organizations to ongoing maintenance work in the parks.
Westwood Hills Park in the City of Napa is a wonderful example of one of these partnerships in action and showcases what we can all do together to help keep our communities safer.
Westwood Hills Park is unique among the 55 parks in Napa in being the only urban wilderness park. The park provides several miles of wooded hiking trails along the hillside and is located in the midst of residential neighborhoods on Brown’s Valley Rd.
A Long Term Commitment
Photo courtesy of Friends of Westwood Hills Park
The park also has a very large amount of French Broom, an invasive plant species that is unfortunately common in Northern California and is a fire danger in areas where it has taken root. Being non-native, French Broom takes over areas where it grows and chokes out much of the natural vegetation, while also acting as fuel for wildfires and as a particularly dangerous “ladder fuel” that intensifies fires when they have started.
While invasive species and ladder fuels are always a concern, Westwood Hills poses an added threat because of its location amongst residential neighborhoods. Fire safety is an extra concern in this park, and managing the invasive plant spread here is among the best methods to help minimize risk.
Going back as far as 2013, Napa Open Space has organized ongoing volunteer projects at the park to help begin the long and stubborn work of clearing out the French Broom.
The mature plants need to be pulled by hand with an eye toward not spreading seed pods to continue the growth of new plants. The real work comes in the tenacity and stubbornness to combat the plant over time. It’s estimated that a medium sized plant can generate more than 8,000 seeds in one year and that these seeds remain dormant and viable for up to 5 years in the soil – meaning that the only way to properly combat the spread is to continue to pull the seedlings as they crop up year after year for 6-7 years.
A Community Coalition
Photo courtesy of Friends of Westwood Hills Park
In 2018 the Friends of Westwood Hills Park was born as a volunteer-led community group that works in partnership with the City of Napa to maintain and improve the park. Kevin Hansen, a retired engineer and member of the city’s volunteer parks commission says that he simply “asked a question and expressed interest” in setting up regular volunteer events at the park, and feels that his neighbors were waiting for a group like this to emerge to engage with.
A coalition of agencies and organizations have become involved with this effort and now include the City, NOSD, Napa Resource Conservation District, Connolly Ranch, and the Carolyn Parr Nature Center, all coordinated around the Friends of Westwood Hills group and participating in regular volunteer projects to remove French Broom and improve fire safety.
Photo courtesy of Friends of Westwood Hills Park
Volunteer workdays usually happen every 3rd and 4th Saturday at the park, with the primary focus for the moment being on removal of French Broom. Napa Open Space participates in these volunteer projects and lends staff time &planning, equipment, and volunteer-power to the effort in our ongoing drive to help keep our parks and communities safer.
We’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this volunteer effort and coalition as we all work through the current health crisis and the coming budget constraints on all of our local agencies and organizations. If you’d like to support NOSD’s work like this volunteer effort, we welcome donations from the community.
Get Involved & Volunteer with Us
- To volunteer with Napa Open Space, fill out our quick volunteer form here.
- To volunteer with Friends of Westwood Hills, email parksvolunteer@cityofnapa.org
Details About Westwood Hills Park:
3107 Browns Valley Rd, Napa, CA 94558
Park open sunrise to sunset, daily