Title: Firewise Landscaping for Master Gardeners
1Fire and Rain Fire-Resistive Landscaping
Gene Twaronite Defensible Space Educator
2We live in Fire County
- Fire is a part of our ecosystems.
- It cannot occur unless all three reactants are
present Oxygen, Heat, and Fuel. - The reactant we can manage is FUEL.
3Ponderosa Pine
Pinyon-Juniper
Grassland
Chaparral
4Ponderosa forest near Flagstaff, early 1900s
5Whats missing is FIRE. These fire scars tell us
that fire was once far more common.
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8Many definitions of a desertWater Gain Vs Water
Loss
9Fire-Resistive Landscaping Defensible Space
- Fire-Resistive Landscaping
- Uses plants that are less flammable
- Reduces or removes fuels that can carry fire to
structures - Beautifies home and provides wildlife habitat
- Defensible Space (Home Ignition Zone)
- Reduces chances of fire reaching home and
property - Provides firefighters and their equipment access
to property - New term Survivable Space makes home ignition
unlikely, even without direct firefighter
intervention
10Most houses burn as a result of floating embers
and creeping fires.
11Spotting in Yellowstone, 1988
12- No plant is fireproof.
- Fire-resistive less likely to burn (Firewise)
- Will burn less hot or for less time
- May require less maintenance
- May be slower in growth
- Plant selection important, but not as important
as landscape design and maintenance.
13Characteristics of Fire-Resistive Vegetation
- Non-resinous plants
- Plants with high live fuel moisture (contain a
large amount of water in relation in comparison
to their dry weight) For example succulents and
deciduous trees - Growth with little or no accumulation of dead
vegetation (either on the ground or standing up) - Low volume of total vegetation (a grass area as
opposed to a forest or shrub-covered land) - Drought tolerant plants (deeply rooted with
thick, heavy leaves) - Stands without ladder fuels
- Plants requiring little maintenance (slow-growing
plants) - Plants with woody stems and branches that require
prolonged heating to ignite - From 2006 INTERNATIONAL WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE
CODE
14Is this plant fire-resistive?
15Is this plant fire resistive?
16Try to imagine fire behavior
Understand fire behavior
17Desert Willow
New Mexican Olive
Arizona Walnut
Native Fire-Resistive Trees
Gambel Oak
New Mexican Locust
18Oak Treatment
19Roots of Quercus turbinella excavated down to 21
feet
20Skunkbush
Cliffrose
Sugar Bush
Native Fire-Resistive Shrubs
Green Rabbitbrush
Apache Plume
21Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus)
22Cacti and other succulents are excellent choices
for Zone 1
Claret Cup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)
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24Agaves and Yuccas are also great choices for
Zone 1
25Fire-Resistive Non-Natives
Euonymous
Pittosporum
Pyracantha
Cotoneaster
Prunus cerasifera
Photinia
26Create islands of color with wildflowers.
27Hardscape Elements
- Use rocks and gravel to
- break up horizontal fuel continuity.
- slow spread of fire
- act as physical barriers
- deflect heat away from structures
- Use combination of organic and inorganic mulches
to conserve soil moisture. - Use concrete, masonry and other fireproof
- structural elements in place of wood.
28Hardscape elements being used to break up fuel
continuity and to conserve soil moisture
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30A little gravel goes a long way
31Use native grasses, especially in Zones 2 and 3
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33Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis)
34Learn to identify and control weeds.
Dalmatian Toadflax
Scotch Thistle
35How NOT to Create Defensible Space Nuked
Property in Payson
36Property in Peeples Valley before treatment
37Same property after treatment
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39Choose well-behaved plants.
- Avoid fast-growing
- plants that could
- create future problems with high
- fuel loading.
- Choose slower growing plants with
- tight growth habits
40Avoid exotics that can become invasive in the
landscape.
English Ivy
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42Some parting thoughts
- Its usually the little things that will burn
your house down look for weak links in defenses. - A healthy landscape is apt to be more Firewise.
- As a result of climate change, drought, and
insect outbreaks, our wildlands are changing (A U
of A research team found that 40-80 of the
pinyon pine on study sites in Arizona, Colorado,
NM and Utah died between 2002 and 2003)
selective thinning of overly dense stands can
help to make them more resilient and adaptable to
wildfire, drought and insects. - Try to see the BIG picture think FIRE and WATER.
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43- www.firewise.org
- cals.arizona.edu/firewise/
- cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/defspace/