Greetings,

We hope you have been enjoying the cool foggy mornings and sweet sunshine-filled afternoons of summer so far. As we’re in the midst of California’s fire season right now and the Park Fire is currently burning north of us, we’ve got fire safety on our minds a lot this month.

Fire is both a natural and integral part of most ecosystems throughout California. Indigenous peoples throughout North America have used fire as both a tool and a ‘medicine’ for tending and managing the land for millennia, until fire suppression was mandated by land management agencies throughout the 20th century. When used responsibly and skillfully, as in the indigenous practices of cultural burning, fire can have extraordinary impacts on the land such as promoting ecological diversity, returning nutrients back to the soil, and reducing the risk of more destructive wildfires that have become all too frequent here in California. Thankfully, a shift has been put in motion over the last few decades with more acceptance and integration of indigenous wisdom and cultural burning practices into land management strategies.

For many residents of California, though, a fear of fire is prevalent each year during this season (and for good reason– many of us have seen the catastrophic effects of wildfires up close and personal). With that in mind, each one of us can do our part to make our landscapes more fire safe and resilient with native plants, mindful maintenance, strategic spacing, and downright beautiful landscapes, right in our own backyards!

There are a plethora of great resources straight from the experts such as CAL FIRE, the UC ANR, local fire departments, and local fire safe councils, so please take care to defer to those resources and your local authorities for specific advice and regulations– check out the resources list at the bottom of this newsletter if you’re not sure where to start!

Here are some of the main takeaways we’ve gleaned over the years and the native plants we recommend for making residential landscapes more fire safe!

Plant choice, maintenance, and location are all equally important!

Even “fire resistant” plants can burn if not strategically maintained and tactfully planted with adequate space. 

General “fire-resistant” native plant characteristics to look for:

• High moisture content in the plant tissues
• Low to the ground growth forms (okay to plant trees if far enough away from structures and other trees; recommended to clear branches in lower third of the tree, ~6-13 ft.)
• Low sap/resin content
• Thick leaves
• Silver/gray leaves
• Leaves without hair
• Less seasonal duff/dead material accumulation (may only be possible with supplemental watering in summer for some species)
• Open branching habits and/or fewer overall branches (less fuel for fires)
• Slow-growth rate so that less pruning is required to keep their branch structure open

Plant arrangement recommendations in the landscape to avoid “fuel ladders”

• Within your Home Defense Zone (~30 ft. around your house, more if on a slope)
• Plant low-growing species that you can maintain a high moisture content within, and keep a lot of space between branches to decrease fuel density. 
• Avoid placing plants close to structures– adjacent to siding, under vents or eaves, under or near decks, and overhanging limbs above the roof
• Space and prune any single shrubs or trees that you wish to retain within 30 ft. of your home 
• Limit bark mulch close to buildings, and consider rock or other less flammable materials instead

• Within your Reduced Fuel Zone (~100 ft. around your house)
• Thin trees and shrubs and space so that there is at least 10 feet between the tips of their limbs.
• For trees over 18 ft. tall, prune away the limbs in the bottom ⅓ of the trunk (ideally at least 6 ft. of from the ground) and remove shrubs around the base that could create a fuel ladder to the tree canopy.

Recommended Annual Maintenance

• Even for “fire-resistant” plant species, annual maintenance is essential for reducing fire risk!
• Keep plants green during the dry season as much as possible– this may require supplemental irrigation, but many native species will still require much less water to achieve this than ornamental plants
• Mow grasses during the growing season (avoid using lawn mowers in dry season to avoid potential sparks that could ignite a fire)
• Trim any tree limbs that are within 10 ft. of your chimney, or any dead limbs hanging over your house or other structures

Resources

• CAL FIRE

“Fire-Smart Landscaping”

https://readyforwildfire.org/prepare-for-wildfire/fire-smart-landscaping/

• Karuk Tribe

“Good Fire II Report”

https://www.karuk.us/index.php/information/62-announcements/652-good-fire-2-report-officially-released

• Sustainable Defense Space

“Eco-appropriate Homescaping for Wildfire Resilience”

https://defensiblespace.org/

• Tending the Wild

“Cultural Burning”

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/tending-the-wild/clip/cultural-burning

• UC ANR

“Home Landscaping for Fire”

https://ucanr.edu/sites/postfire/files/248488.pdf

• UC ANR Fire Network

“Creating a fire-resilient landscape”

https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Preparedness/Landscaping/

Stay Safe and ‘Bee’ Well from all of us at the Watershed Nursery!