Firewise Landscaping for Master Gardeners

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Fire and Rain Fire-Resistive Landscaping
Gene Twaronite Defensible Space Educator
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We 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.

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Ponderosa Pine
Pinyon-Juniper
Grassland
Chaparral
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Ponderosa forest near Flagstaff, early 1900s
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Whats missing is FIRE. These fire scars tell us
that fire was once far more common.
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Many definitions of a desertWater Gain Vs Water
Loss
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Fire-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

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Most houses burn as a result of floating embers
and creeping fires.
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Spotting in Yellowstone, 1988
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• 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.

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Characteristics 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

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Is this plant fire-resistive?
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Is this plant fire resistive?
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Try to imagine fire behavior
Understand fire behavior
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Desert Willow
New Mexican Olive
Arizona Walnut
Native Fire-Resistive Trees
Gambel Oak
New Mexican Locust
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Oak Treatment
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Roots of Quercus turbinella excavated down to 21
feet
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Skunkbush
Cliffrose
Sugar Bush
Native Fire-Resistive Shrubs
Green Rabbitbrush
Apache Plume
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Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus)

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Cacti and other succulents are excellent choices
for Zone 1
Claret Cup Cactus (Echinocereus triglochidiatus)
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Agaves and Yuccas are also great choices for
Zone 1
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Fire-Resistive Non-Natives
Euonymous
Pittosporum
Pyracantha
Cotoneaster
Prunus cerasifera
Photinia
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Create islands of color with wildflowers.
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Hardscape 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.

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Hardscape elements being used to break up fuel
continuity and to conserve soil moisture
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A little gravel goes a long way
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Use native grasses, especially in Zones 2 and 3
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Sideoats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
Blue Grama (Bouteloua gracilis)
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Learn to identify and control weeds.
Dalmatian Toadflax
Scotch Thistle
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How NOT to Create Defensible Space Nuked
Property in Payson
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Property in Peeples Valley before treatment
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Same property after treatment
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Choose well-behaved plants.

• Avoid fast-growing
• plants that could
• create future problems with high
• fuel loading.
• Choose slower growing plants with
• tight growth habits

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Avoid exotics that can become invasive in the
landscape.
English Ivy
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Some 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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• www.firewise.org
• cals.arizona.edu/firewise/
• cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/defspace/