The preserve suffered high-severity fire damage during the 2018 Camp Fire, which resulted in a large amount of standing dead ponderosa pine and black oak. In the years that followed, beetle kill increased the number of standing dead trees and a understory brush component comprised mostly of chemise
regenerated. This created an unhealthy forest landscape and also threatened the safety of neighboring landowners, pedestrians, and recreational users. The purpose of the URNP project was to mitigate, remove, and pile any hazard trees that threatened roads, trails, private property, transmission lines, and other infrastructure.