Native Plants and Fire Safety Special Issue

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VOL. 38, NO. 2 AND VOL. 38, NO. 3 • APRIL 2010 AND JULY 2010 FREMONTIA JOURNAL OF THE CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY

SPECIAL ISSUE: NATIVE PLANTS AND FIRE SAFETY VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY CNPS, 2707 K Street, Suite 1; Sacramento, CA 95816-5113 FREMONTIA Phone: (916) 447-CNPS (2677) Fax: (916) 447-2727 Web site: www.cnps.org Email: [email protected] VOL. 38, NO. 2, APRIL 2010 AND VOL 38, NO. 3, JULY 2010 MEMBERSHIP Membership form located on inside back cover; Copyright © 2010 dues include subscriptions to Fremontia and the CNPS Bulletin California Native Plant Society Mariposa Lily ...... $1,500 Family or Group ...... $75 Bob Hass, Editor Benefactor ...... $600 International or Library ...... $75 Betsey Landis, Advisor Patron ...... $300 Individual ...... $45 Beth Hansen-Winter, Designer Plant Lover ...... $100 Student/Retired/Limited Income . $25 Brad Jenkins, Jake Sigg, and CORPORATE/ORGANIZATIONAL Carol Witham, Proofreaders 10+ Employees ...... $2,500 4-6 Employees ...... $500 7-10 Employees ...... $1,000 1-3 Employees ...... $150 CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY STAFF (SACRAMENTO) CHAPTER COUNCIL Executive Director . . . . . Tara Hansen David Magney (Chair); Larry Levine Dedicated to the Preservation of Finance & Administration Manager . (Vice Chair); Marty Foltyn (Secretary); the California Native Flora Cari Porter Board of Directors Representatives: Membership & Development Coor- Brian LeNeve, Orchid Black The California Native Plant Society dinator ...... Stacey Flowerdew Alta Peak (Tulare) . . . . Joan Stewart (CNPS) is a statewide nonprofit organi- Conservation Program Director . . . . . Bristlecone (Inyo-Mono) ...... zation dedicated to increasing the Greg Suba Steve McLaughlin understanding and appreciation of Rare Plant Botanist . . . . Aaron Sims Channel Islands . . . . David Magney California’s native plants, and to pre- Vegetation Program Director . . . Julie Dorothy King Young (Mendocino/ serving them and their natural habitats Evens Vegetation Ecologists . Jennifer Buck, Sonoma Coast) . . . . . Nancy Morin for future generations. East Bay ...... Bill J. Hunt CNPS carries out its mission through Kendra Sikes Education Program Director . . . Josie El Dorado ...... Susan Britting science, conservation advocacy, educa- Crawford Kern County . . . . . Dorie Giragosian tion, and horticulture at the local, state, Administrative Assistant . . . . . Marcy Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mtns . . . . and federal levels. It monitors rare and Millett Betsey Landis endangered plants and habitats; acts to Marin County . . Carolyn Longstreth STAFF (AT LARGE) save endangered areas through public- Milo Baker (Sonoma County) . . . . . ity, persuasion, and on occasion, legal Fremontia Editor ...... Bob Hass Liz Parsons action; provides expert testimony to CNPS Bulletin Editor . . . . . Bob Hass Mojave Desert ...... Tim Thomas government bodies; supports the estab- Legislative Consultant .Vern Goehring Monterey Bay . . . . Rosemary Foster East Bay Conservation Analyst . . . . . lishment of native plant preserves; spon- Mount Lassen ...... Catie Bishop Lech Naumovich sors workdays to remove invasive plants; Napa Valley ...... Gerald Tomboc Website Coordinator . . Mark Naftzger and offers a range of educational activi- North Coast ...... Larry Levine ties including speaker programs, field PROGRAM ADVISORS North San Joaquin . . . . Alan Miller trips, native plant sales, horticultural Rare Plant Program Senior Advisor . . . Orange County . . . . . Nancy Heuler workshops, and demonstration gardens. Jim Andre Redbud (Grass Valley/Auburn) . . . . Since its founding in 1965, the tradi- Vegetation Program Senior Advisor . . Joan A. Jernegan tional strength of CNPS has been its Todd Keeler-Wolf Riverside/San Bernardino counties . . dedicated volunteers. CNPS activities Horticulture Committee Chair ...... Katie Barrows are organized at the local chapter level Laura Camp Sacramento Valley . . . Glen Holstein where members’ varied interests influ- CNPS Press Co-Directors . . . . . Holly San Diego ...... David Varner ence what is done. Volunteers from the Forbes, Dore Brown San Gabriel Mtns . . . . Orchid Black 33 CNPS chapters annually contribute Poster Program . . . Bertha McKinley, San Luis Obispo . . . . Lauren Brown Wilma Follette in excess of 97,000 hours (equivalent Sanhedrin (Ukiah) ...... Geri Hulse-Stephens to 46.5 full-time employees). BOARD OF DIRECTORS Santa Clara Valley . . . Judy Fenerty CNPS membership is open to all. Brett Hall (President); Lauren Brown Members receive the quarterly journal, Santa Cruz County . Deanna Giuliano (Vice President); Carol Witham (Trea- Sequoia (Fresno) . . . . Paul Mitchell Fremontia, the quarterly statewide Bul- surer); Sarah Jayne (Secretary); At Shasta ...... Ken S. Kilborn letin, and newsletters from their local Large: Laura Camp, Ellen Dean, Arvind Sierra Foothills (Tuolumne, Cala- CNPS chapter. Kumar, Nancy Morin, Vince Scheidt, veras, Mariposa) . . Robert W. Brown Alison Shilling South Coast (Palos Verdes) ...... Disclaimer: David Berman MATERIALS FOR PUBLICATION Tahoe ...... Michael Hogan The views expressed by authors published CNPS members and others are wel- in this journal do not necessarily reflect Willis L. Jepson (Solano) ...... established policy or procedure of CNPS, come to contribute materials for publi- Mary Frances Kelly Poh and their publication in this journal should cation in Fremontia. See the inside back Yerba Buena (San Francisco) . . . . . not be interpreted as an organizational cover for submission instructions. Ellen Edelson endorsement—in part or in whole—of their Staff and board listings are as of June 2011. ideas, statements, or opinions. Printed by Premier Graphics: www.premiergraphics.biz

FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010

ISSUE DATE: APRIL AND JULY 2010. PUBLICATION DATE: JULY 2011 CONTENTS FIRE ON CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPES by Jon E. Keeley ...... 2 The California wildfire problem involves wildfire hazards to the urban environment and protection of natural resources. Managing this risk involves fire suppression, changing home construction standards, reducing landscaping fuels, and more serious attention to zoning decisions.

HOW CNPS DEVELOPED A POLICY ON NATIVE PLANTS AND FIRE SAFETY by Betsey Landis ... 7 Extensive inquiry and discussion has resulted in a CNPS policy for the state of California that protects native plants, ensures fire safety, and suggests ways to implement it.

THE WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE FIRE PROBLEM by Jack Cohen ...... 16 Homes can survive wildfires without the necessity of wildfire control. But this will require changing our mindset from wildfire exclusion to wildfire compatibility.

INTERPRETING FIRE AND LIFE HISTORY INFORMATION IN THE MANUAL OF CALIFORNIA VEGETATION by Todd Keeler-Wolf, Julie M. Evens, and John O. Sawyer ...... 23 The natural history and fire information in the new edition of A Manual of California Vegetation provides land managers and others with better ways to preserve the state’s natural heritage.

INVASIVE SPECIES AND FIRE IN CALIFORNIA ECOSYSTEMS by Adam M. Lambert, Carla M. D’Antonio, and Tom L. Dudley ...... 29 Although fire is a natural disturbance in many California plant communities, invasive species can alter fire dynamics in ways that are transforming some of these communities.

SUSTAINABLE AND FIRE-SAFE LANDSCAPES: ACHIEVING WILDFIRE RESISTANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN THE WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE by Sabrina L. Drill ...... 37 UC Cooperative Extension, Los Angeles, has developed an educational program to help homeowners create and maintain fire-safe landscaping, while also being good stewards of the land and avoiding the use of invasive plants.

THE ROLE OF FIRE SAFE COUNCILS IN CALIFORNIA by Yvonne Everett ...... 42 All over California, where communities meet wildlands, citizen groups are working together to help protect their neighborhoods from wildfire. They call themselves Fire Safe Councils.

FIRE-RESISTANT LANDSCAPING: A GENERAL APPROACH AND CENTRAL COAST PERSPECTIVE by Suzanne Schettler ...... 46 Wildfires are capricious and yet there are steps we can take to reduce the risk to a home when designing or retrofitting a landscape setting.

WILDFIRE SAFETY: LESSONS LEARNED FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA by Greg Rubin ...... 51 It is possible to create defensible space around your home while still embracing the natural ecology that surrounds it. Some pragmatic tips for enhancing fire safety without wholesale environmental destruction.

THE MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL by Julie Rogers ...... 56 From humble beginnings, Fire Safe Councils such as this one in Mendocino County are helping communities “survive and thrive” in wildfire-prone environments. NEW CNPS FELLOW—TERESA SHOLARS by Lori Hubbart ...... 60 DR. REID MORAN: 1916–2010 by Thomas Oberbauer ...... 62

BETH HANSEN-WINTER: CNPS DESIGNER EXTRAORDINAIRE by Phyllis M. Faber ...... 65 Meet Beth Hansen-Winter, who is celebrating 25 years as the designer of Fremontia.

BOOK REVIEW: The Nature of This Place: Investigations and Adventures in the Yuba Watershed by Bruce Boyd and Liese Greensfelder, editors. Reviewed by Julie Carville...... 66

THE COVER: Burning chaparral in Southern California. Photograph courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 1 Postfire regeneration of chaparral in the first spring after the 2007 Witch Fire in northern San Diego County. In addition to shrub resprouts, it is remarkable how many annual species with seed banks that have been dormant for decades are stimulated to germinate by smoke and heat. All photographs by J. Keeley. FIRE ON CALIFORNIA LANDSCAPES by Jon E. Keeley

his volume comprises a fine The California flora is well known biomes (Keeley et al. 2009). In this collection of papers that infor its resilience to periodic fires, and issue the novel approach of Keeler- troduces a diversity of issues many species are characterized as Wolf, Evens, and Sawyer in applying pertaining to wildfires. They being “fire-adapted” or having “fire- fire responses to community associa- illustrateT well the difficulty of bal- adaptive traits,” which means they tions is a first attempt at providing a ancing protection of natural re- have characteristics that are deemed framework for understanding fire resources with threats to urban envi- critical to success in fire-prone envi- gime differences that may prove use- ronments. Critical to understand- ronments. However, in recent de- ful to fire managers. ing these issues is the recognition cades we have come to recognize that A state as diverse as California that there are distinct ecoregional no species is adapted to fire per se, has many fire regimes, but the con- differences in the natural role of fire but rather is adapted to particular cept can be illustrated by contrast- and consequently in appropriate fire regimes. For example, fire-adap- ing surface fire regimes in forests management practices, and nowhere tive traits are very different between with crown fire regimes in shrub- is this more evident than in the very forest species and shrubland species, lands. Forests with historical fire re- diverse state of California with its and historical impacts on fire regimes gimes of surface fires that largely sharp contrasts between forested and and contemporary fire management burned understory litter, or in more non-forested ecosystems. needs are very different between these open forest savannah sites burned

2 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 understory grasses, generally left tire canopies and leave very little population dynamics, an ecological most mature trees alive. The life his- above-ground living plants. On these term that describes how landscapes tory traits of the dominant mixed landscapes lightning-ignited fires recover by surviving populations re- conifer trees reflect a strategy of out- are far less frequent than in forested colonizing localized burned sites. growing the surface fuels, maintain- environments. Historically these Disturbance of course is a con- ing the canopy well above the sur- shrublands burned perhaps once or cern to all botanists who appreciate face fuels, and evolving traits such twice a century, and fires profited natural landscapes and conservation as thick bark and self-pruning of from the massive landscape expanses of the native flora. Disturbance from dead branches as a means of provid- of fuels. Most chaparral species re- a human perspective is not the same ing separation between the fire and cover endogenously (growing from as disturbance from a plant’s per- the live canopy. The trees in these within the site) by dormant seed spective. On fire-prone landscapes forests depend on surviving, as they banks and resprouting from basal where fire is considered a natural are the parent seed trees for subse- burls or other below-ground vegeta- ecosystem process, humans disturb quent recovery. Key to survival is tive structures. As a consequence of ecosystems by altering fire regimes, the fuel load, and historically this this endogenous regeneration sys- usually by either reducing fire fre- was kept at a low level by frequent tem, fire size is seldom critical to quency through fire suppression, or lightning-ignited fires. In these for- vegetation recovery, although this is increasing fire frequency by increas- est types, the landscape patterns of less true for the fauna. ing fire ignitions as well as by chang- burning are critical to the speed of This dichotomy of forest surface ing the seasonal distribution of igni- recovery, as seed dispersal is rela- fire regimes and shrubland crown tions. These alterations in the natu- tively localized and dependent on fire regimes of course only captures ral fire regime represent the real dis- patches of seed trees surviving, in- some extremes. In this issue, Lam- turbances in these ecosystems and terspersed with areas of high inten- bert, D’Antonio, and Dudley describe can have negative impacts on plant sity burning that open gaps in the Great Basin sage scrub, which expe- survival. forest canopy. riences very frequent lightning- The introduction in Jack Cohen’s Non-forested vegetation such as ignited fires, but due to the discon- article describes well the impact of chaparral shrublands persist on more tinuities in surface fuels, yields very humans on forested ecosystems. It extreme sites where plant produc- patchy burn patterns. This is re- is the long-standing story of fire sup- tivity is lower and the vegetation flected in lack of resprouting and pression allowing unnatural fuel simply lacks the capacity to outgrow lack of dormant seed banks in many loads to accumulate, thus changing fire impacts. In these systems, crown dominant shrubs (Keeley et al. 2009). fire regimes from frequent low in- fires periodically burn through en- The gaps are dependent on meta- tensity surface fires to infrequent high intensity crown fires. These This community of chamise chaparral burned twice in three years and is now dominated high intensity fires can result in large by non-native species such as red brome (Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens). portions of the forest landscape being type converted to early seral stages of native chaparral that may persist for many decades, if not longer. These shrubs develop from dormant seed banks that were produced following similar high intensity crown fires sometime in the past, but in some cases there is no native shrub seed bank and, as discussed in Lambert, D’Antonio, and Dudley’s article, these are likely to be invaded by non-native grasses. This however, represents only part of the California story. The majority of our landscape is not forested and humans have not reduced fire frequency, but rather have radi- cally increased burning (Halsey 2004). In many places this has had the unfortunate impact of type con-

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 3 verting native shrublands to non- short, fire-hazard reduction and re- Historically, communities have native grass and forb lands as out- source protection are compatible. In viewed fire as something that state lined by Lambert, D’Antonio, and contrast, chaparral shrublands have and federal fire agencies will control Dudley in this issue. As a member evolved with infrequent high inten- and prevent from impacting the ur- of the California Native Plant Soci- sity burning and many of the spe- ban environment. This may be ac- ety, this type conversion concerns cies are at risk when fire frequency complished through a combination me because of the loss of both na- increases. Consequently, fire-hazard of fire suppression tactics and con- tive flora and fauna. As an ecologist reduction and resource protection certed efforts at reducing wildland this concerns me because of the are oftentimes at odds with one an- fuels. On non-forested landscapes change in functional types from other. this latter approach has often been deep-rooted shrubs that can hold No one concerned with our na- very controversial because, depend- soils on steep slopes, to shallow- tive flora can ignore the demands ing on the methods used, it may in- rooted herbs. As a fire scientist this humans place on ecosystems, most volve the sacrifice of native flora, the concerns me because of the change directly by habitat destruction. Look- introduction of non-native species, in fire season from about 6 months ing down the road this is even more and the disruption of natural ecosys- in shrublands to 12 months in an- important, as there is currently no tem processes. These are problems nual grasslands, and lastly as a sci- effort to curb population growth in CNPS has been keenly aware of as entist this is of concern due to the California. According to the Cali- documented in the article by Betsey loss in the capacity for carbon stor- fornia Department of Finance, by Landis in this issue. These costs in age and potential impacts on cli- 2050 the population is projected to and of themselves do not constitute mate. reach almost 60 million—about a reasons for avoiding such treatments, These two fire regimes have dif- 41% increase. This will place de- but they do put an added burden of ferent implications for how we man- mands not only on habitat availabil- proof on the managers for demon- age these landscapes. Most forests ity, but also on wildland fire activi- strating a positive benefit. Over the in our region have evolved along ties that will undoubtedly impact past 100 years, wildland fire-fighting with frequent low intensity surface native plants and urban environ- agencies have made great progress in fires. As a consequence, the use of ments. Of all the potential global managing the fire risk, but it seems frequent prescription burning to re- changes threatening our state, popu- unlikely they will ever be able to duce hazardous fuels is compatible lation growth has to rank at the top eliminate the threat of fires crossing with much of the flora and fauna. In of our list. the wildland-urban interface.

Dense urban fuels create hazardous conditions when wildfires burn across the wildland-urban interface.

4 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Excessive clearance of chaparral around new home (top center) in San Diego County. A growing body of evidence indicates vegetation thinning rather than denuding the site is sufficient to provide defensible space for fire protection.

Jack Cohen’s article provides us found that landscaping decisions evidence to show that actual clear- with a new frontier for dealing with frequently are critical to home surance of all vegetation is not the the fire problem. In short, divert at- vival in wildfires, particularly for proper approach to fuel manage- tention away from trying to prevent those homes at the immediate wild- ment, as outlined by Greg Rubin’s fires from reaching the urban envi- land-urban interface (Fotheringham article. What is needed is breaking ronment and instead focus on mak- 2010). This work should ultimately up the continuity of fuels, both ver- ing homes fire-proof and thus im- contribute to the SAFE Landscapes tically and spatially, and reducing mune to fire. His call for better home program outlined by Sabrina Drill the proportion of dead to live wood. construction is one very important in her article. Suzanne Schettler’s In other words—thinning the veg- part of the solution to the wildland- fire-resistant landscaping paper pro- etation. Complete clearance can ac- urban interface problem. In his view vides further insights into this issue. tually enhance fire spread by both we could reach a point where un- “Clearance” is an issue of criti- increasing alien weeds that comprise controlled wildfires were of minimal cal importance, not just for solving flashy fuels, and by eliminating im- threat to urban environments be- wildland-urban impacts, but also of portant “ember catchers” such as cause of fire-proof construction. importance to botanists like myself oak trees that can dampen the fire However, home construction is and other CNPS members who are threat around homes. only one of the ways to make the concerned about the impacts on As Jack Cohen has shown, 100 urban environment fire-safe. Land- natural resources. The term refers feet of fuel modification surround- scaping around homes often deter- to the fuel management zone around ing a home seems to be sufficient mines which homes burn and which homes, and unfortunately the word to prevent homes from being de- survive. The U.S. Geological Survey “clearance” has been institutional- stroyed during wildfires, especially has been studying this problem and ized in statutes. There is plenty of in forested areas. However, as Cohen

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 5 been missing from the caused ignitions and thus, future fire debate is a third op- losses in general. To this end com- tion: why not alter munities currently at the wildland- where we put homes? urban interface will need to deal with Changes in plan- the problems they face being posi- ning decisions may tioned near watersheds of highly have some of the great- flammable fuels. The federally sup- est potential for reduc- ported Fire Safe Councils have an ing home losses in important role to play in these cases the future. By analogy as described by two articles, one by with other hazards Yvonne Everett and one by Julie such as flooding— Rogers. where development is restricted to sites out- REFERENCES side flood plains—fire hazard planning needs California Department of Finance. a much more thor- 2007. New state projections show 25 ough examination million more Californians by 2050. than it has tradition- Press release. http://www.dof.ca.gov/ Most fires ignite in grasses and other herbaceous material ally received. Roger html/demograp/reportspapers/pro- and spread to shrublands, as illustrated by this fire spreading jections/p1/documents/p1_press_ Kennedy, historian into chamise chaparral. Photograph courtesy of the National release_7-07.pdf (accessed June 2, Park Service. and former National 2011). Park Service Director, Fotheringham, C.J. 2010. Landscape points out, most homes are not de- has coined the concept of “Fire Zone fuels and the management of natu- stroyed by the radiant heat from the Planning.” This approach has not ral systems. Station Fire Symposium, fire front. Rather it is common for been ignored by fire agencies; for Altadena, CA, December 16, 2010. homes to burn from embers enter- example, it is part of the reason for Los Angeles Watershed Council. ing vents or igniting piles of dead Cal Fire’s intensive effort at fire haz- Halsey, R.H. 2004. Fire, chaparral, and leaves on roofs or gutters. Since em- ard mapping in the state. The guid- survival in southern California. Sun- bers can travel a mile or more, clearance this provides to planners, how- belt Publications, San Diego, CA. ance zones are not likely to be highly ever, is largely a function of scale. Keeley, J.E., et al. 2009. Ecological foundations for fire management in effective in altering housing losses The California Department of For- North American forest and shrub- in many instances. estry and Fire Protection maps are land ecosystems. USDA Forest Ser- In recent years we have seen a based in part on assumptions about vice, Pacific Northwest Research demand by insurance companies and the importance of natural wildland Station, General Technical Report, legislators for increasing the clear- fuel loads, and in this respect they PNW-GTR-779. ance zone to 300 feet or more. In a do appear to point out the most haz- Keeley, J.E. and A.D. Syphard. The 2003 recent analysis for San Diego County ardous regions in the state. How- and 2007 wildfires in southern Cali- it was found that if all homes at the ever, at community scales they may fornia. In Natural Disasters and Ad- wildland-urban interface that could not be adequate. In a recent empiri- aptation to Climate Change, ed. J. clear this distance did so, it would cal study of home losses over the Palutikof and D.J. Karoly. Cambridge represent a clearance of one-third past 10 years in Los Angeles, Ventura, University Press, Cambridge, UK. In press. of the natural areas of the county and San Diego counties, fire hazard Syphard, A.D, J.E. Keeley, A. Bar (Keeley and Syphard, in press). To maps did not predict actual property Massada, T.J. Brennan, and V.C. those concerned with resource pro- loss. Rather, location of homes rela- Radeloff. Housing location and ar- tection, this looms as an ominous tive to historical fires was of far rangement increase wildfire risk in threat to future sustainability of our greater predictive value (Syphard et southern California. Science. In review. native flora and fauna. al. in review). Current conversation would Of course future changes in land Jon E. Keeley, Research Scientist, U.S. make it seem as if there are two planning will not necessarily solve Geological Survey, Western Ecological approaches to solving the wildland- the wildfire problem for many exist- Research Center and Adjunct Professor, urban interface fire problem: 1) stop ing communities, although keeping Department of Ecology and Evolutionary fires from encroaching the urban new development from extending Biology, University of California, Los environment, or 2) prevent fires into currently rural areas may pre- Angeles; 47050 Generals Hwy, Three Riv- from destroying homes. What has vent further increases in human- ers, CA 93271, [email protected]

6 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 HOW CNPS DEVELOPED A POLICY ON NATIVE PLANTS AND FIRE SAFETY by Betsey Landis

he CNPS policy on Native of wildland fire prevention engineer- 2010, and it was emphasized that Plants and Fire Safety, ing for the California Department of this process allows organizations adopted March 13, 2010, is Forestry and Fire Protection, pre- and individuals to get involved. The the culmination of years of sented the State regulatory aspects question was then posed as to discussionsT among CNPS members on fuel management in chaparral. whether we, CNPS, should have a about reports of increasing wildfire The last speaker, Betsey Landis, Los policy statement regarding fuels frequency, extensive urban encroach- Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains management and “living with fire.” ment into native plant habitat, fla- Chapter of CNPS, discussed the The discussion that ensued involved grant clearing of native vegetation, chapter perspective on the impacts what that policy might include, how including into public parklands, and of current fuel reduction practices specific it should be, how it would the consequent invasion of these on maintenance of healthy chapar- be disseminated, and who would bare, eroded areas by highly flam- ral habitat. be responsible for bringing it to mable weeds. In her presentation, Ernylee fruition.1 The policy process began Septem- Chamlee reported that about five In 2008 a fire policy subcom- ber 8, 2007 at the annual CNPS Con- million people live in a wildland- mittee of the Chapter Council Policy servation Conference. Sue Britting urban interface (WUI) in Califor- Committee was formally constituted had organized a session on chaparral nia. She indicated that the manage- with Celia Kutcher (Orange County) management issues. Max Moritz, as- ment of these lands for fuels, plants, as chair, Betsey Landis (Los Angeles sistant cooperative extension special- vegetation types, and safety will be /Santa Monica Mountains) as vice ist in wildland fire and adjunct assis- an enormous issue for our state. chair, Jim Bishop (Mt. Lassen) as tant professor at UC Berkeley, spoke Notably, all general plans (specifi- Chapter Council Policy Committee about his research in chaparral ecol- cally those sections addressing fire advisor, and Chuck Williams (San- ogy and fire. Ernylee Chamlee, chief issues) needed to be updated by hedrin). Frank Landis (San Diego) and Kevin Bryant As a fire precaution, native vegetation was cleared to bare dirt and sparse annual grass cover out to 100 (Santa Clara) joined feet from this house. The result? Serious erosion, including slumping, soil liquefaction, and sliding during the committee in 2009. the rainy season. Photograph by M. Witter. As many as 100 people contributed comments and information as the policy evolved into a document applicable to the whole state. Every chapter was sent drafts for review, and revi- sions were discussed at Chapter Council meetings. A special session on fire-management topics was held at the January 2009 CNPS Conference. Jim Bishop then sent out a survey to all chapters asking three questions: 1) What are the fire risk reduction practices in your area

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 7 which made a few editorial changes. SOME PLANTS TO AVOID WHEN LANDSCAPING IN The fire policy subcommittee and FIRE-PRONE AREAS the Chapter Council Policy Com- mittee then approved the final draft. he following plants are either flammable, invasive, or both, and The Native Plants and Fire Safety Tshould not be used in areas of high fire danger. Policy was presented to the Chapter Council March 13, 2010 and was Scientific Name Common Name adopted by unanimous vote. Acacia species acacia (trees and shrubs) Ageratina adenophora eupatory NEGATIVE IMPACTS AND Ailanthus altissima tree of heaven POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: Bougainvillea bougainvillea Cedrus species cedar Cortaderia selloana, Cortaderia jubata pampas grass FEDERAL LEVEL Cupressus species cypress At the federal level, southern Delairea odorata cape ivy, German ivy California Chapters reported prob- Dimorphotheca sinuata African daisy lems with the prescribed burns that Dodonea viscosa hopseed bush are an integral part of fuel manage- Eucalyptus species eucalyptus, gum tree ment in the Healthy Forests Resto- Fraxinus uhdei Shamel ash ration Act of 2003 (HFRA). Fuel Gelsemium sempervirens Carolina jessamine management plans utilizing pre- Hakea suaveolens hakea scribed burns in the southern Cali- Hedera species ivy fornia National Forests, which have Juniperus species juniper large areas of chaparral, have re- Lobularia maritima sweet alyssum sulted in uncontrolled wildfires, Myoporum laetum myoporum too frequent burning, and conver- Pennisetum species fountain grass sion to weedy, flammable, erodable Phoenix canariensis Canary Island date palm slopes. The HFRA allows fuel re- Picea species spruce duction in the WUI (wildlands/ur- Pinus species pine ban interface) of up to 1 1/2 miles Ricinus communis castor bean from structures. Other fuel manage- Schinus molle Peruvian pepper tree (or ment methods include mastication, “California” pepper tree) crushing, and building fuel breaks, Schinus terebinthifolius Brazilian pepper tree all of which destroy the intricate Spartium junceum Spanish broom root matrix native plant communi- Taxus species yew ties create to knit the fragile water- Thuja species arborvitae sheds together. In heavy rainfalls, Tropaeolum majus nasturtium mudslides are inevitable. Loss of Vinca major, Vinca minor periwinkle healthy topsoil leads to non-native Washingtonia spp. Californian and Mexican fan shallow-rooted grasslands, which in palms turn lead to more frequent early season wildfires. Sources: Santa Monica Mountains Community Wildfire Protection Plan, ForEverGreen Forestry. Recommended List of Native Plants for Landscaping in the Santa Monica Suggestions for preventing fur- Mountains, Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter, CNPS. ther damage to these chaparral forests ranged from rewriting the Healthy Forests Restoration Act to that are most detrimental to native regulations about fire and fuel man- excluding its application to south- plants and habitats? 2) What are agement practices, as well as a lot of ern California National Forests. better approaches, ones that will re- confusion around the state about duce fire risk without hurting na- which level of regulatory authority STATE LEVEL tive plants? 3) What agencies are was responsible for which regula- the key to getting practices imple- tion. At the state level, there were no mented? Finally in February 2009, the general complaints about the State The answers revealed layers of draft policy was submitted to the Fire Code (PRC 4291, CCR 1299, inconsistent, often contradictory, Chapter Council Policy Committee, General Guidelines, or Chapter 7

8 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Building Code for Wildfire Areas, except that the definition of “Brush Clearance” needs to be removed and replaced with a new term, perhaps “Fuel Management.” Currently State Cal Fire rarely uses the term “Brush Clearance,” although fire authorities at the county or city level still do. The Code requires 100 feet of fuel reduction around structures, with the most rigorous fuel reduction and vegetation control occurring in the first 30 feet from the structures. California FAIR Plan (CFP) is a state-mandated pool of private insurance companies. All insurance companies insuring properties in California in high-risk (high fire hazard) areas must belong to this pool. Chapters have received com- TOP: A former fuel break has turned into a major weed-infested area that is now more plaints from members and others susceptible to wildfire than it was before the native vegetation was removed. Photograph owning homes in fire areas about by R.S. Taylor. • BOTTOM: An example of excessive vegetation clearance around a house in the unreasonable requirements the wildland-urban interface near San Diego. Photograph by R. Halsey. placed on them for clearing vegetation around their homes. CFP re- the property owner cannot clear that The penalty for not clearing land quires 200 feet minimum of clear- far due to property lines, CFP will to CFP’s satisfaction is a large surance and may require more (3,000 insist that the property owner some- charge on the first property owner. feet clearance was reported in one how compel the adjacent owner to CFP does not show as much con- instance in Riverside County!). If clear the land. cern about proper fuel clearance of

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 9 ornamental trees, shrubs, and vines here to the State Fire Code, and to of native habitat as a major concern. in the first 30 feet from the home, supply mudslide insurance along Their maintenance plans for trails which is considered by experts to with the fire insurance. and recreation areas should contain be the more important defensible CalTrans has its own fuel modi- location data of any rare native plants area. Since the adjacent property fication regulations that seem to and how to avoid damaging their owner is often the public (i.e., parks work better in some counties than habitats or causing weed invasions and preserves), political pressure by others. Problems are in protecting at those locations. All parks should property owners and homeowner rare native plants that may grow have regulations promoting fire-safe associations results in park authori- along roads, especially in areas where construction of all structures and ties clearing protected natural re- farmlands have removed much of adjacent landscapes. sources on a yearly basis, resulting the usual habitat for these native The building of fire/fuel breaks, in losses of native habitat and major plants. It needs better management at whatever level of government, is a erosion in natural watershed areas. oversight, as does the Transporta- statewide problem. Some are neces- The suggested recourse is to work tion Corridor Authority. sary, having been built during a wild- with the State Insurance Commis- Each California state park has fire, but others are not. In state parks, sioner and the State Legislature to its own management plan, which biologists may be present at the fire require the insurance pool to ad- may or may not consider protection command post during a wildfire. A biologist will go out with the bull- TOP: The downslope area adjacent to this residence has been denuded of all vegetation and dozer operator if a fuel break is re- is eroding. Meanwhile, fire hazards including a wooden fence and pine trees remain next quired in an area known to have rare to the house. • BOTTOM: Typical of many new developments in wild areas of Southern plants. The biologist will direct the California, these houses were built too close to each other, and are surrounded by flammable trees. Their risk for damage from a wildfire is high. Photographs by R. Halsey. bulldozer operator around larger plants or will request that the operator lift the blade as the machine moves over smaller plants. Often the bull- dozers are sent out to carve a fuel break straight up and down slopes. This usually results in heavy infestations of weeds after the fire is over. Recovery of the area may take years. Some developments on flat land use large, bulldozed fuel breaks to protect structures from fire. Ques- tions were posed by CNPS members about the wisdom and value of such fuel breaks.

COUNTY LEVEL At the county level, fire authorities may be County Fire Departments or Fire Districts, and may include paid staff, volunteers, or a combination of both. Many of these fire authorities require more than 100 feet clearance of all native vegetation from the structures in fire areas while allowing non-native, ornamental, often highly flammable plants to remain around the houses. Many county codes do not require fire- safe construction for fire areas. Due to water restrictions, irrigation may be allowed in the first 30 feet from the house, but prohibited beyond

10 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 and in CEQA processes that involve LAYERS OF AUTHORITY FOR FIRE AND FUEL impacts on native vegetation. With MANAGEMENT REGULATIONS human activity in natural areas comes a greater chance of wildfire LEVEL OF JURISDICTION RESPONSIBLE ENTITY ignition. General Plans should re- Federal Congress (Acts) flect the increased hazards of increasing populations living in fire areas: Federal Dept. of Interior: Natl. Parks, BLM, Natl. to the residents and rate payers, in Cooperative Land & Wildlife Area the economic costs of fighting fires, USDA: Natl. Forests in the resulting losses in natural re- Indian Reservations Dept. of Indian Affairs, Tribal Councils sources (especially in watershed and State of California Legislature (Codes) percolation areas), and in damage State of California CalFire, State Fire Marshal’s Office caused by erosion. Local jurisdic- State of California State Insurance Commissioner tions should require fire-safe build- State of California State Parks & Wilderness Areas ing codes for homes, power networks State of California Dept. of Fish and Game, DFG Preserves and grids, transmission towers, and for fire-safe landscaping, and require State of California Caltrans enforcement of those codes. State of California UC Reserves Counties Boards of Supervisors, Planning Depts., Commissions WHAT CNPS CHAPTERS Counties County Fire Departments or Fire CAN DO Districts Below are some suggestions of Counties County Water Districts things CNPS chapters and members Counties NCCP, HCP, MCP can do to protect both native habitat Counties Transportation Corridors, Road Depts. and homes. Counties Weed Management Areas • Join the local County Weed Man- Counties County Parks and Recreation Areas agement Area to assist in identify- ing best management practices Cities City Councils, Planning Depts., for protecting native plant re- Building & Safety Depts., Commissions sources, by removing invasive non- Cities City Parks and Recreation Areas native plants from native habitat Cities Municipal Water and Power Depts. areas or in the vicinity of rare plant Private Lumber Companies, Mining Companies populations. Private Land Trusts • If the CNPS chapter has members Private Utilities (Water, Power, Gas, living in wildfire areas, those mem- Communications) bers may be involved in a local Private Homeowner Associations Fire Safe Council. If not, encourage members to explore the con- Source: CNPS Chapter Council Fire Policy Subcommittee, CNPS conservation chairs, other CNPS members, and Web searches. cept of Fire Safe Councils. Either assist a Fire Safe Council to design a plan that protects native plant that point, even in times of drought. counties, and perhaps other land- resources and properly manages The cost of wildfires is greater than owners—when fighting a large wild- those resources, or organize a new the cost to the homeowner for fire- fire covering several jurisdictions. Fire Safe Council, utilizing chap- safe construction and the cost to The people concerned with good fire ter native plant expertise to create maintain a healthy landscape to the response need to step forward and a plan that protects both human property line, even if occasional wa- organize communications and re- residents and native habitats. tering beyond the first 30 feet is sources in these jurisdictions. 1 Conference proceedings link: http://www. necessitated by dry winters. Many of the same concerns ap- cnps.org/cnps/conservation/conference/ A continuing problem—espe- ply at both the county and city level, 2007/index.php cially when volunteer fire depart- where CNPS members comment in ments are involved—is the lack of public hearings on General Plans Betsey Landis, 3908 Mandeville Canyon coordination between rural fire dis- about environmental issues involv- Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90049, betseylandis tricts, or between adjacent cities, ing native plants and invasive weeds, @sprintmail.com

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 11 NATIVE PLANTS AND FIRE SAFETY POLICY Adopted by CNPS Chapter Council March 13, 2010

THE POLICY Statement: The California Native Plant Society opposes the unnecessary destruction of California’s native plant heritage for the purpose of wildfire fuel management. The California Native Plant Society supports protecting human lives, property, and California’s native plants from poor fuel management practices. California’s superbly diverse native plants are its most valuable resource for erosion control and water conservation, and are vital to the long-term health of California. Intent: To provide an authoritative policy that California Native Plant Society and others can use to persuade legislators and regulators to approve fire-safe practices that maximize conservation of native plants and native plant ecosystems, while protecting citizens, firefighters, and property.

SUPPORTING MATERIALS Rationale: Siting development in or adjacent to native plant communities increases the risk to structures from wildfire, the potential for additional human-caused ignitions, and the need for more fuel management. The best land-use planning practices minimize placing development in locations that increase the risk of property exposure or of ignitions. The best fire-safe building codes reduce the risk of the structure being ignited, or spreading fire, during a wildfire. Fuel management practices to protect urban development generally have been ineffective and/or counter- productive, severely impacting that native vegetation. Public ordinances and bureaucratic regulations often require fuel-removal practices in excess of 2006 California Public Resource Code 4291, causing severe damage to native plant ecosystems without reducing wildfire risk. These requirements should be replaced with proven fuel-management practices that minimize the wildfire threat and do not devastate native plant ecosystems. California is large and diverse, and different fuel systems require different solutions for minimizing the impacts of fuel management and fire control practices on native vegetation. That diversity, as exemplified in two cases noted here, requires the development of implementation guidelines that fit the affected area. Examples: •In some areas, especially shrublands, shortened fire-return cycles have converted native plant communities into non-native grasslands. These faster-burning invasive non-native plant species in turn fuel early-season wildfires, preventing regrowth of native vegetation and diminishing resource value. •In certain forested areas, wildfire suppression has caused a lengthened fire-return cycle, which can allow an accumulation of dead material and an increased likelihood of high-intensity wildfires. This modification of natural cycles has led to losses in native forest species diversity, erosion, increased wildfire management costs, and greater risks to property and people. Implementation: The California Native Plant Society supports: •Fuel management plans that minimize the risk to human life and property while maximizing protection of native plants and their habitats. These plans should be locally adapted and account for all combustible materials, including building materials, ornamental vegetation, other landscaping materials, and adjacent native plant ecosystems. •Building codes and ordinances that require structures and landscaping in high-fire-risk areas to be situated, constructed, retrofitted, and maintained using materials and practices that minimize the ignition and spread of wildfires.

12 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 •The creation of laws, regulations, and land-use policies that discourage new development in areas of high- fire danger. There are many different fire environments and property-development settings throughout the state. The California Native Plant Society will develop specific guidelines for implementation, supported by current applicable fire science and botanical knowledge, to fit the particular wildfire environment and property- development patterns of a given area. These detailed guidelines will be supplemental to this policy, and can be created, modified, or removed by approval of the California Native Plant Society Chapter Council.

DEFINITIONS CODIFIED IN STATE LAW OR LOCAL ORDINANCES Brush—All native vegetation (especially shrubs), all vegetation in undeveloped lands. Sources: California FAIR Plan 2010; Los Angeles City Fire Department 2010. Brush areas—Wildlands, undeveloped lands. Synonyms: Brush hazard areas, brush/wildfire areas. Source: California FAIR Plan 2010. Brush clearance—Treatments or thinning of vegetation to reduce fire hazards. Synonyms: Fire clearance, fuel clearance. Source: Los Angeles City Fire Department 2000. California FAIR Plan—“The California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) Plan was created by state legislation in July 1968 following the 1960s brush fires and riots. It is an insurance pool established to assure the availability of basic property insurance to people who own insurable property in the State of California and who, beyond their control, have been unable to obtain insurance in the voluntary insurance market. The FAIR Plan is a private association based in Los Angeles comprised of all insurers licensed to write property insurance in California. The FAIR Plan is not a state agency.” Source: California FAIR Plan 2010. Defensible space—An area extending 100 feet from a structure in which “Fuels shall be maintained in a condition so that a wildfire burning under average weather conditions would be unlikely to ignite the structure” (PRC 4291). The defensible space zone consists of an innermost 30 feet in which the fuels are maintained as “lean and green,” and an outermost 70 feet as the “reduced fuel zone” in which fuels are reduced, limbed up, and thinned. Source: Cal Fire 2010a.

GENERAL GUIDELINES Public Resource Code 4291, Excerpt from General Guidelines (pages 5-6): C. Fuel Treatment Guidelines The following fuel treatment guidelines comply with the requirements of 14 CCR 1299 and PRC 4291. All persons using these guidelines to comply with CCR 1299 and PRC 4291 shall implement General Guidelines 1, 2, 3, and either 4a or 4b, as described below. 1. Maintain a firebreak by removing and clearing away all flammable vegetation and other combustible growth within 30 feet of each building or structure, with certain exceptions pursuant to PRC 4291(a). Single specimens of trees or other vegetation may be retained provided they are well spaced, well pruned, and create a condition that avoids spread of fire to other vegetation or to a building or structure. 2. Dead and dying woody surface fuels and aerial fuels within the Reduced Fuel Zone shall be removed. Loose surface litter, normally consisting of fallen leaves or needles, twigs, bark, cones, and small branches, shall be permitted to a depth of 3 inches. This guideline is primarily intended to eliminate trees, bushes, shrubs, and surface debris that are completely dead, or with substantial amounts of dead branches or leaves/needles that would readily burn. 3. Down logs or stumps anywhere within 100 feet from the building or structure, when embedded in the soil, may be retained when isolated from other vegetation. Occasional (approximately one per acre) standing dead trees (snags) that are well-spaced from other vegetation and which will not fall on buildings or structures or on roadways/driveways may be retained. 4. Within the Reduced Fuel Zone, one of the following fuel treatments (4a or 4b) shall be implemented. Properties with greater fire hazards will require greater clearing treatments. Combinations of the methods may be acceptable under 1299(c) as long as the intent of these guidelines is met. 4a. Reduced Fuel Zone: Fuel Separation

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 13 In conjunction with General Guidelines 1, 2, and 3, above, minimum clearance between fuels surrounding each building or structure will range from 4 feet to 40 feet in all directions, both horizontally and vertically. Clearance distances between vegetation will depend on the slope, vegetation size, vegetation type (brush, grass, trees), and other fuel characteristics (fuel compaction, chemical content, etc.). Properties with greater fire hazards will require greater separation between fuels. For example, properties on steep slopes having large-sized vegetation will require greater spacing between individual trees and bushes. Groups of vegetation (numerous plants growing together less than 10 feet in total foliage width) may be treated as a single plant. For example, three individual manzanita plants growing together with a total foliage width of 8 feet can be “grouped” and considered as one plant, and spaced according to the Plant Spacing Guidelines in this document. 4b. Reduced Fuel Zone: Defensible Space with Continuous Tree Canopy To achieve defensible space while retaining a stand of larger trees with a continuous tree canopy, apply the following treatments: • Generally, remove all surface fuels greater than 4 inches in height. Single specimens of trees or other vegetation may be retained, provided they are well-spaced, well-pruned, and create a condition that avoids spread of fire to other vegetation or to a building or structure. • Remove lower limbs of trees (prune) to at least 6 feet up to 15 feet (or the lower 1/3 branches for small trees). Properties with greater fire hazards, such as steeper slopes or more severe fire danger, will require pruning heights in the upper end of this range. Source: Cal Fire. 2006

GLOSSARY OF TERMS Community—Any ecologically integrated group of species of microorganisms, plants, and animals inhabiting a given area. Source: Purves, Orians, Heller, Sadava (1998). Ecosystem—The organisms of a particular habitat, together with the physical environment in which they live. Source: Purves, Orians, Heller, Sadava (1998). Environment—An organism’s surroundings, both living and nonliving; includes temperature, light intensity, and all other species that influence the focal organism. Source: Purves, Orians, Heller, Sadava (1998). Fire management—Strategies for controlling and extinguishing fires/wildfires. Source: Carle (2008). Fire-safe landscaping—Designing a defensible space by using well-spaced fire-resistant plants and hardscape elements such as brick or stone walls to prevent heat and flames from reaching the structure. Source: SAFE Landscapes (2009). Fuel—Any combustible material, both man-made—such as wood fences, lumber, furniture, plastic, awnings, and cloth—and vegetative—such as grass, leaves, ground litter, plants, shrubs, and trees—that feeds a fire. Sources: For vegetation: Carle (2008); for man-made materials as fuel: Los Angeles City Fire Department (2000). Fuel management—Manipulating fuels to reduce the likelihood of ignition, reduce fire behavior, and/or lessen potential damage and resistance to control. Synonyms: fuel modification, fuel reduction, wildfire fuel management. Source: Carle (2008). Habitat—The environment in which an organism lives. Source: Purves, Orians, Heller, Sadava (1998). Native—Occurring naturally in an area, not as either a direct or indirect consequence of human activity; indigenous; not alien. Source: Hickman (1993). Note: Plants documented or assumed to have been in California at the advent of European exploration of the west coast of North America—around 1500 A.D.—are generally considered to be “native plants.” Plant community—An assemblage of individuals of one to many plant species distinct in structure and composition from other adjacent such groupings. Source: Sawyer, Keeler-Wolf, and Evens (2009). Vegetation—All the plant species in a region and the way they are arranged. Source: Sawyer, Keeler-Wolf, and Evens (2009). Vegetation management—Manipulation of plant species by humans to attain a goal or goals such as esthetics, economics, maintenance, restoration, pest/weed eradication, and/or fuel modification. Sources: Carle (2008); Sawyer, Keeler-Wolf, and Evens (2009). Wildland-urban interface (WUI)—The area where structures and other human development meet undeveloped wildlands and their fuels.

14 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Source: Carle (2008). Note: WUI is easy to define qualitatively but it is so site-specific that WUI cannot be used to create quantitative regulations defining the width of fuel clearance zones in general.

SOURCE REFERENCES FOR LEGAL DEFINITIONS AND GLOSSARY OF TERMS Cal Fire 2010a. Why 100 Feet? http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet.php (accessed January, 2010) California FAIR Plan. 2010. California FAIR plan website. http://www.cfpnet.com/ (accessed January, 2010) Carle, David 2008. An Introduction to Fire in California. University of California Press, Berkeley. Hickman, James C. (ed.). 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press, Berke- ley. Los Angeles City Fire Department, 2000. Los Angeles Fire Department Fire Hazard Reduction and Safety Guidelines. LAFD Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety, Brush Clearance Unit. Van Nuys, CA. Purves, W.K., G.H. Orians, H.C. Heller, and D. Sadava. 1998. Life: The Science of Biology, 5th ed. Sinauer Associates, Inc. 23 Plumtree Road, Sunderland, MA. W.H. Freeman and Company, Salt Lake City, UT. SAFE Landscapes. 2010. SAFE Landscapes, Sustainable and Fire Safe Website. http://groups.ucanr.org/SAFE/ (accessed February, 2010). Sawyer, J.O., T. Keeler-Wolf, and J.M. Evens. 2009. A Manual of California Vegetation, 2d ed. California Native Plant Society, Sacramento CA. Cal Fire 2006. Cal Fire Clearance Code: General Guidelines for Creating Defensible Space, February 8, 2006. http:/ /www.fire.ca.gov/cdfbofdb/PDFS/4291 guidelines2_23_06.pdf (accessed January, 2010) Cal Fire 2010a. Why 100 Feet? http://www.fire.ca.gov/communications/communications_firesafety_100feet.php (accessed January, 2010)

GENERAL REFERENCES Cal Fire 2010b. The Wildland Urban Interface Building Code Information. http://www.fire.ca.gov/fire_prevention/ fire_prevention_wildland_codes.php (accessed February, 2010). California Codes, Public Resources Code (PRC) section 4291. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section+prc&group+04001-05000&file4291-4299 (accessed March, 2010) California Fire Safe Council. 2010 Homeowner’s Guide to Firewise Landscaping. http://www.firesafecouncil.org/ homeowner/index.cfm (accessed February, 2010) California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Office of the State Fire Marshal. 2010. Wildland Urban Interface Products. http://www.osfm.fire.ca.gov/strucfireengineer/pdf/bml/wuiproducts.pdf (accessed February, 2010) Halsey, Richard W. 2008. Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California, 2d ed. Sunbelt Publications, Inc., San Diego, CA. Keeley, J.E. 1981. Reproductive cycles and fire regimes. In Proceedings of the Conference on Fire Regimes and Ecosystem Properties, ed. H.A. Mooney, T.M. Bonnicksen, N.L. Christensen, J.E. Lotan, and W.A. Reiners, pp. 231-277. USDA Forest Service, General Technical Report WO-26. Keeley, J.E. 1991. Resilience to fire does not imply adaptation to fire: an example from the California chaparral. Proceedings of the Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference 17:113-120. Keeley, J.E., P.H. Zedler, C.A. Zammit, and T.J. Stohlgren. 1989. Fire and demography. In The California Chaparral: Paradigms Re-Examined, ed. S.C. Keeley, pp. 151-153. Science Series No. 34. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA. Los Angeles City Fire Department, 2000. Los Angeles Fire Department Fire Hazard Reduction and Safety Guidelines. LAFD Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety, Brush Clearance Unit, Van Nuys, CA. SAFE Landscapes. 2010. SAFE Landscapes, Sustainable, and Fire Safe Website. http://groups.ucanr.org/SAFE/ (accessed February, 2010). Taylor, Alan H., and C.N. Skinner. 1995. Fire regimes and management of old-growth Douglas fir forests in the Klamath Mountains of northwestern California. In Proceedings: Fire Effects on Rare and Endangered Species and Habitats Conference, Nov. 13-16, 1995, ed. J.M. Greenlee, pp. 203-208. International Association of Wildland Fire, Fairfield, WA.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 15 THE WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE FIRE PROBLEM by Jack Cohen

he fire destruction of hun- and has become known as the wild- the U.S. Forest Service and became dreds of homes associated land-urban interface (WUI) fire a broad national perspective. Chief with wildfires has occurred problem. The initial fire management Forester Henry Graves stated in 1913 in the United States for more response to the WUI fire problem, that “the necessity of preventing thanT a century. From 1870 to 1920, principally organized by the U.S. losses from forest fires requires no massive wildfires occurred princi- Forest Service and the National Fire discussion. It is the fundamental pally in the Lake States but also Protection Association, resulted in obligation of the Forest Service and elsewhere. Wildfires such as Pesh- the 1986 Wildfire Strikes Home con- takes precedence over all other du- tigo (Wisconsin, 1871), Michigan ference (Laughlin and Page 1986). ties and activities” (Pyne 1982). Al- (1881), Hinckley (Minnesota, 1894), The current national Firewise pro- though several prominent foresters Adirondack (New York, 1903), the gram developed out of that initiative and researchers, like Coert DuBois Big Blowup (Idaho-Montana, 1910), (www.firewise.org). Since 2000, fed- of the Forest Service and H.H. and Cloquet (Minnesota, 1918) ex- eral and state wildland fire manage- Chapman of Yale University, pro- tended across millions of acres, de- ment policy has recognized the WUI moted the benefits of wildland burn- stroying towns and causing several fire problem as a principal issue in a ing in the 1920s and 1930s, the ques- thousand civilian fatalities (Pyne number of documents including the tioning of fire control policies was 1982). This period produced sig- National Fire Plan (2000), Federal considered a threat to nationally or- nificantly greater destruction of Wildland Fire Management Policy ganized forestry programs (Pyne property and lives than has occurred (2001), 10-Year Comprehensive 1982). For the next four decades in the past 50 years. Strategy (2001), and the Healthy For- the federal public land management More recently, the home destruc- ests Restoration Act (2003). policy largely addressed wildfires as tion problem related to wildfires be- Wildfire exclusion started as a unwanted—to be prevented, and if came nationally recognized in 1985 prime directive in the early years of not prevented, to be suppressed at the smallest area possible (the fire exclusion paradigm). TABLE 1. WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE DISASTERS Federal policy began to recog- DURING EXTREME WILDFIRES (1990–2007) nize wildland fire as a historical, ecological factor in the late 1960s Homes and early 1970s (Pyne 1982). Cur- Year Incident Location destroyed rent policy recognizes that wildland (approx.) fire can be an important ecological process and provides latitude for 1990 Painted Cave Santa Barbara, CA 479 planned burning (prescribed fire) 1991 Spokane “Firestorm” Spokane, WA 108 and designating unplanned fires as Tunnel/Oakland Oakland, CA 2900 desirable. In practice, however, the nationwide total number of wild- 1993 Laguna Hills Laguna and Malibu, 634 land fires suppressed as wildfires Old Topanga CA overwhelmingly dominates the fire 1996 Millers Reach Big Lake, AK 344 occurrence statistics. For example, 1998 Florida Fires Flagler and Volusia 300 on federal lands the ten-year (1998– Counties, FL 2007) average number of total wild- 2000 Cerro Grande Los Alamos, NM 235 land fires per year designated for suppression is approximately 80,000 2002 Hayman Lake George, CO 132 occurrences, compared with 327 Rodeo-Chediski Heber-Overgaard, AZ 426 designated as desirable (National 2003 Aspen Summerhaven, AZ 340 Interagency Fire Center). Old, Cedar, etc. Southern CA 3640 Although some agencies have more management latitude in prin- 2006 Texas-Oklahoma Fires Texas and Oklahoma 723 ciple, the proportion of fires sup- 2007 Angora Lake Tahoe, CA 245 pressed suggests that an exclusion Witch, Slide, Grass Southern CA 2180 16 FREMONTIAValley, etc. VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FIGURE 1. WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE FIRE SEQUENCE.

Severe Wildfire Extreme Residential Conditions Fire Behavior Fires

▼ ▼ Fuel, weather High fire intensities High ignitability produces ▼ Given Given and topography ignition and growth rates homes many home ignitions

Fire Protection Fire Protection WUI Resources Effectiveness Fire Disaster

Burning homes ▼ Reduced ▼ Potentially hundreds of overwhelming or nonexistent destroyed homes

WUI fire disasters depend on the exposure of ignitable homes to the flames and firebrands of uncontrollable, extreme wildfires. Many burning and highly ignitable homes overwhelm firefighters, resulting in many homes without protection. If homes exposed to wildfire are ignition-resistant, then an extreme wildfire can occur without a WUI fire disaster. approach largely continues. The fire suppression over many years has pression operations successfully term “fire exclusion paradigm” re- contributed to reduced fire occur- control 97–99% of all wildfires with fers to this organizational culture rence that has led to increased fuels the initial response (Stephens and and operational practice of prevent- and changed fuel composition and Ruth 2005), and firefighters typi- ing and suppressing nearly all wild- arrangements. In turn, that has con- cally limit a fire to a single structure land fires. tributed to the extensive areas of high or prevent the fire from spreading As a consequence of these prac- intensity wildfires experienced in re- beyond that structure. However, big tices, fire suppression has signifi- cent years (USDA and USDI 2000). flames and extensive showers of cantly contributed to the reduction burning embers (firebrands) result- of fire occurrence in most areas of DEFINING DISASTER ing from high intensity fires over the United States. The National Fire broad areas (referred to as “extreme Plan report states, “As a result of the One might assume there is an wildfire conditions”) is not a typical all-out effort to suppress fires, the unbreakable link between increas- situation. When residential devel- annual acreage consumed by wild- ing wildfire extent and intensity opment is exposed to extreme wildfires in the lower 48 states dropped and increasing WUI residential fire fire conditions numerous houses can from 40 to 50 million acres (16 to 20 destruction. However, we cannot ignite and burn simultaneously, million hectares) a year in the early assume extreme wildfires directly overwhelming firefighters and re- 1930s to about 5 million acres (2 cause WUI fire disasters; these di- ducing fire protection effectiveness. million hectares) in the 1970s” sasters depend on homes igniting WUI fire disasters principally occur (USDA and USDI 2000). In some during wildfires. Certainly extreme during these extreme wildfire con- ecosystems, such as the ponderosa wildfires initiate ignitions within ditions that account for the one to pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests in the residential areas, but if homes do three percent of wildfires that es- western U.S., the reduction of fire not ignite and burn during wild- cape control (Menakis et al. 2003). occurrence has resulted in signifi- fires, then the WUI fire problem Table 1 lists WUI fire disasters be- cant changes to the species composi- largely does not exist. tween 1990 and 2007. Every one of tion and increases in the amount of Widespread WUI home destruc- these disasters occurred because ex- live and dead vegetation (Arno and tion during wildfires does not occur treme wildfire conditions over- Brown 1991; Finney and Cohen when normal wildfire control and whelmed firefighters attempting 2003). Furthermore, it has been structure protection capabilities limit wildfire control and firefighters at- shown that in many areas aggressive the fire spread. Wildland fire sup- tempting to protect structures.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 17 FIGURE 2. THE FIRE TRIANGLE residential fire exposures that potentially ignite many houses and jeopardize firefighters’ safety. This prevents fire protection for many structures. With homeowners likely evacuated and firefighters unable to protect every house, small, easy-to- extinguish ignitions can result in total home destruction. If homes are sufficiently resistant to ignition and do not ignite when exposed to extreme wildfire, the homes survive with little to no firefighter protection; we have an extreme wildfire but not a WUI fire disaster. Thus, the occurrence of WUI fire disasters principally depends on home ignition potential. Homes ignite and burn by meeting and sustaining the requirements for combustion. Fire is a process that Home ignitions depend on a sufficiency of FUEL, the flammable parts of a home, and requires a sufficiency of fuel, heat, HEAT, the flames and firebrands of all objects burning around a home. OXYGEN will and oxygen to continue. The fire always be sufficient for home ignitions. process is graphically represented by the “fire triangle” (Figure 2). For the The WUI fire disaster context whelm wildfire suppression efforts. WUI fire context, the house is the can be generally described as a set of If extreme wildfire spreads close “fuel” and all burning objects sur- contingencies (Figure 1). The disas- enough to residential development rounding the house (vegetation and ter sequence starts when a wildfire with its flames and firebrands, hun- other structures) are the “heat.” In or multiple wildfires burn during ex- dreds of ignitable homes can be si- this context oxygen will always be treme fire conditions. The combina- multaneously exposed. sufficient. During extreme WUI fires tion of extreme vegetation, weather, Although protection may be ef- the requirements for combustion can and topographic conditions given a fective for some homes, an extreme be met, resulting in home (fuel) ig- fire start produces fast-spreading, wildfire’s high intensities and rapid nitions in two principal ways: 1) di- intensely burning fires that over- spread combine to produce broad rect flame heating—radiation and

This historical photo series from western Montana (Smith and Arno 1999) shows how an initially open forest (with management activity) dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) became increasingly vegetated by predominantly Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), a

18 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 convection (flame contact), and 2) home’s exterior materials, design, and with a focus on the wildfire and fuel firebrands collecting on flammable associated flammable debris related treatment outside the home ignition house surfaces (burning ember spot to surrounding burning objects with- zone still remains the principal ap- ignitions) (Cohen and Wilson 1995; in 100 feet (30 meters) and firebrands proach. Cohen 2000a). (lofted burning embers). I call this For example, the U.S. Depart- Research indicates that WUI fire area—a home and its immediate sur- ments of Agriculture and Interior destruction occurs principally due roundings—the home ignition zone produced a report in response to the to conditions local to destroyed (HIZ). Thus, given an extreme wild- home destruction (principally at Los homes. Computational modeling fire, the HIZ principally determines Alamos, NM) and wildfires of 2000 and laboratory and field experiments the potential for home ignition and that became known as the National that describe the heat transfer re- this reveals opportunities for prevent- Fire Plan (USDA and USDI 2000). quired for ignition have shown that ing WUI fire disasters. This report designated fire suppres- the large flames of burning shrubs sion at the federal, state, and local and tree canopies (crown fires) must PREVENTING DISASTER levels as the first priority. Several be within 100 feet to ignite a home’s years later a multiagency plan was wood exterior (Cohen and Wilson The above research suggests an developed called the 10-Year Com- 1995; Cohen 2000a; Cohen 2004). alternative for preventing disastrous prehensive Strategy (Western Gov- Actual case examinations find that home destruction without the ne- ernors Association 2006). This plan extreme wildfire behavior does not cessity of controlling wildfires un- is currently in effect and promotes occur within most residential areas der extreme conditions. Addressing multi-agency collaboration for re- (Cohen 2000b; Cohen and Stratton conditions within the HIZ can sig- ducing wildfire risks, including the 2003; Cohen and Stratton 2008). nificantly reduce the home ignition risk of WUI fire disasters. The first Unconsumed vegetation surround- potential. Thus, given ignition-re- goal of the strategy directs the im- ing most destroyed homes and gen- sistant homes, extreme wildfires can provement of wildfire prevention erally throughout burned residen- spread to residential areas without and suppression. In general, the 10- tial areas indicates home ignitions incurring WUI fire disasters. To date, Year Comprehensive Strategy pro- occur from lower intensity surface however, WUI ignition resistance motes a fire suppression approach fires spreading to contact a home has not been the primary approach for preventing WUI fire disasters and from firebrands contacting the used by most federal, state, and lo- without consideration for home ig- flammable surfaces of a house. cal fire agencies to prevent disas- nition potential and the HIZ as a key Computations, experiments, and trous WUI fire destruction. Although component (Western Governors As- disaster examinations show that a the HIZ approach for preventing sociation 2006). home’s ignition potential during ex- WUI fire disasters has been adopted Vegetation fuel reduction treat- treme wildfire is principally deter- by the national Firewise program ments, as reported in the Healthy mined by the characteristics of a (www.firewise.org), fire suppression Forests Report of May 2007, also change in forest type and density. Historically, such a site had frequent fire occurrence every decade or so that maintained ponderosa pine in a more open condition. All photographs courtesy of U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 19 ABOVE: Unconsumed vegetation adjacent to four destroyed homes in this view indicates ignitions from lower intensity surfaces fires and/ or firebrands directly igniting homes. • TOP RIGHT: This condition typically prevails across entire residential areas of WUI fire destruction. The areas of consumed canopy vegetation in this scene are related to homes burning. • BOTTOM RIGHT: High intensity fire spread in the tree canopy (crown fire) stopped at this residential street and did not continue as crown fire. However, all of the structures for several more blocks burned. point to the widespread use of a 95 percent of large wildfire sup- fire management operations, and wildfire modification and control ap- pression expenditures were directly manual directives indicates that wild- proach that does not address a related to protecting private prop- fire suppression and activities in sup- home’s ignition potential, but rather erty and homes in the WUI….When port of suppression constitute the focuses on areas outside the HIZ FS protection responsibilities are di- principal approach for preventing (USDA and USDI 2008). Fuel treat- rectly adjacent to WUI development, disastrous residential fire destruction. ments in the vicinity are expected to FS line officers feel compelled to Yet the evidence of disastrous WUI protect homes by creating conditions aggressively suppress wildfires be- fire occurrence suggests that reason- that enable successful fire suppres- cause the fires threaten privately- able levels of fire suppression cannot sion. Wildfire operations appear to owned structures, even if the fires prevent these disasters. be consistent with the above policy pose no threat to FS resources. The inevitability of wildfires— as indicated by the significant U.S. including the extreme wildfires that Forest Service expenditure of sup- These findings are consistent with account for the one to three percent pression resources for WUI protec- Forest Service Manual directives re- of the fires that escape control—is tion. A November 2006 Office of garding WUI fire protection. Section axiomatic. But WUI fire disasters Inspector General report (USDA 5137 of the manual defines Forest occur during this one to three per- 2006) on large wildfire suppression Service structure protection measures cent of uncontrollable wildfires. This costs documents this practice: in terms of wildfire control (USFS might suggest the inevitability of 2004). “The Forest Service’s primary WUI fire disasters; however, research FS managers and staff stated that responsibility and objective for struc- shows it is the HIZ that principally WUI protection was the major driver ture fire protection is to suppress determines the potential for WUI of FS suppression costs, with some wildfire before it reaches structures.” fire disasters. The continued focus staff estimating that between 50 to The evidence from policy documents, on fire suppression largely to the

20 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 exclusion of alternatives that address the WUI fire problem in terms of quires that the problem be framed home ignition potential suggests a the fire exclusion paradigm. in terms of home ignition potential persistent inappropriate framing of Preventing WUI fire disasters re- and not fire exclusion. Because this

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 21 principally involves the HIZ, and 1994, Kananaskis, AB, ed. C. Tymstra Wildfire strikes home! Report of the the HIZ primarily falls within pri- C. Partners in Protection, Edmonton, national wildfire/urban fire protec- vate ownership, the responsibility AB. tion conference. NFPA SPP-86. Na- for preventing home ignitions largely Cohen J.D. 2000a. Preventing disaster: tional Fire Protection Association, falls within the authority of the prop- Home ignitability in the wildland- Quincy, MA. urban interface. Journal of Forestry Menakis J.P., J.D. Cohen, and L. Brad- erty owner. If we are to prevent ex- 98(3): 15-21. shaw. 2003. Mapping wildland fire tensive home destruction within the ——. 2000b. A brief summary of my risk to flammable structures for the WUI, property owners must become Los Alamos fire destruction exami- conterminous United States. In Proc. engaged, matching their authority nation. Wildfire 9(4): 16-18. of fire conference 2000: The first over the HIZ with the responsibility Cohen J.D., and R.D. Stratton. 2003. national congress on fire ecology, pre- to create ignition resistant homes. Home destruction. In Hayman Fire vention, and management, ed. K.E.M Fire agencies can reinforce the ne- Case Study. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS- Galley, R.C. Klinger, and N.G. Sugi- cessity of property owner engage- GTR-114, ed. R.T. Graham. USDA hara. Misc. pub. 13. Tall Timbers Re- ment as well as facilitate property Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Re- search Station, Tallahassee, FL. owners in reducing the ignition vul- search Station, Ogden, UT. National Interagency Fire Center. Wild- nerability of their homes. Cohen J.D. 2004. Relating flame radia- land fire statistics. http://www.nifc. tion to home ignition using model- gov/fire_info. ing and experimental crown fires. Pyne, S.J. 1982. Fire in America. Uni- REFERENCES Canadian Journal of Forest Research versity of Washington Press, Seattle, 34: 1616-1626. WA. Arno S.F., and J.K. Brown. 1991. Over- Cohen J.D., and R.D. Stratton. 2008. Smith H.Y., and S.F. Arno, eds. 1999. coming the paradox in managing Home destruction examination: Eighty-eight years of change in a wildland fire. Western Wildlands Grass Valley Fire. Technical Paper, managed ponderosa pine forest. Gen. 17(1): 40-46. R5-TP-026b. USDA Forest Service, Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-23. USDA Cohen J.D., and P. Wilson. 1995. Cur- Region 5, Vallejo, CA. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Re- rent results from structure ignition Finney M.A., and J.D. Cohen. 2003. search Station, Ogden, UT. assessment model (SIAM) research. Expectation and evaluation of fuel Stephens S.L., and L.W. Ruth. 2005. In Proc. of the Fire Management in management objectives. RMRS-P- Federal forest fire policy in the the Wildland/Urban Interface: Shar- 29, USDA Forest Service. United States. Ecological Applications ing solutions Symposium, Oct. 2-5, Laughlin J., and C. Page, eds. 1987. 15(2): 532-542. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2006. Office of Inspector General audit report: Forest Service large fire suppression costs. Report no. 08601-44-SF. U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Interior. 2000. Man- aging impact of wildfires on communities and the environment: A report to the president in response to the wildfires of 2000. U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Interior. 2008. Healthy forests and rangelands, Healthy For- ests Report. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2004. Forest Service Manual, Title 5100, Fire Management, Sections 5137 and 5137.02. Western Governors Asso- ciation. 2006. A collaborative approach for reducing wildland fire risks to communities and the environment: 10-year comprehensive The home ignition zone (HIZ) is the area that principally determines a home’s ignition strategy implementation plan. West- potential during extreme wildfires when active fire protection is unlikely. It is the fire ern Governors Association. behavior within the HIZ, about 100 feet or less in relation to a home’s ignition vulnerability, that principally determines ignition potential. Firebrands, regardless of travel distance, are a significant ignition factor, but only based on the HIZ characteristics. The firebrand Jack Cohen, Fire Sciences Laboratory, ignition threat depends on spot ignitions within the HIZ that can burn to contact a house 5575 W. US Highway 10, Missoula, MT or collect on a home’s flammable surfaces, all HIZ conditions. 59808, [email protected]

22 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Two contrasting vegetation alliances with chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) and whiteleaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida). Chamise will both resprout from the base and germinate from seeds while this manzanita only germinates from seeds following fires. Photograph by T. Keeler-Wolf. INTERPRETING FIRE AND LIFE HISTORY INFORMATION IN THE MANUAL OF CALIFORNIA VEGETATION by Todd Keeler-Wolf, Julie M. Evens, and John O. Sawyer

ire is a pervasive force impact- throughout this issue of Fremontia, exist with nature. Here we consider ing the composition and struc- fire has shaped our state’s flora and changes in The Manual of California ture of vegetation throughout is one of the major natural processes Vegetation (MCV2) as they relate to Fmost of California. As discussed regularly affecting our ability to co- fire. VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 23 that enable the alliance FIGURE 1. LIFE HISTORY FOR THE ARCTOSTAPHYLOS VISCIDA to exist. In a sense, it is ALLIANCE. akin to having a general What this table can tell you: “recipe” for sustaining How big? What climate? • each alliance listed in Life History Traits of Principle Species the book, although this Reproductive strategy • • Life forms Shrub; evergreen “recipe” must be thought • Seed storage Soil of as broadly defined and Constraints to regeneration • Seed longevity Long • • Mode of dispersal Animal not subject to precise • Germination agents Chemical; heat; scarification; How well it can colonize • stratification—winter measurements. • Mode of sprouting None In each full alliance • Survivability after Fire-sensitive; thin Particular adaptations for • fire/disturbance epidermis; high flammability; description there are two no/low sprouting; canopy sexual regeneration architecture susceptible separate tables with ac- • Disturbance-stimulated No • flowering companying text—one Adaptation to asexual • Reproductive range 10–100+ years for the life history traits regeneration • Recruitment Episodic Regional variation High • of the distinguishing Individual adapted • plant species and another to fire/disturbance? • Does its life history vary geographically? for the associated fire re- • gime for that alliance. Does disturbance enhance• Do regeneration opportunities happen often? The logic behind the two sexual regeneration? • How many years does it have to replace itself? tables addresses the ten- dency of distinguishing plant species of an alliance to have specific abilities that are adapted FIGURE 2. FIRE REGIME FOR THE ARCTOSTAPHYLOS VISCIDA to a set of specific envi- ALLIANCE. ronmental and ecologi- How often fires occur over • Fire Characteristics cal conditions. For ex- several fire cycles • Fire return interval Medium (20–70+ years) ample, a desert scrub • Seasonality Late summer–fall type defined by creosote When fires occur during the year • Size/extent Medium to large—up to and beyond • stand bush (Larrea tridentata) • Complexity Low to moderate The characteristic • Intensity High will respond very differ- distribution of area within • • Severity Medium to very high • Type Active-independent crown fire ently to fire than a chap- the fire perimeter Regional knowledge Cascades, North Coast, and Sierra arral type defined by • • Nevada Complexity, or patchiness, is chamise (Adenostoma the spatial variability of different fasciculatum), even fire severity levels within the though both shrubs are fire perimeter • Describes from where the collective fire similar in size and have Intensity is a measure of • behavior in the range of the alliance is small evergreen leaves. energy release per unit length known The conditions un- of fire line • • der which an alliance can A description of fire effects applied to Fire type describes the combination of persist depend, to a great a variety of landscape components, flaming fronts that are characteristic in the degree, on adaptations of including vegetation, soil, landscape for this vegetation type geomorphology, watersheds, wildlife the distinguishing spe- habitat, and human life and property cies (its longevity, germination requirements, general morphology, and A major reason for preparing a than 380 main California vegetation other genetically controlled traits) second edition was to provide more types, which are known formally as plus the type, frequency, and inten- useful descriptions of the state’s natu- “alliances.” The life history of the sity of the natural processes associ- ral vegetation so that we can better main distinguishing plant species ated with that vegetation over time. preserve it. Principally, we thought (bolded in the first line of an If conditions change sufficiently be- to improve the book’s utility by in- alliance’s description), coupled with yond the distinguishing species’ gen- cluding life history and fire behavior a summary of the natural processes eral range of tolerance, then the veg- characteristics for each of the more affecting it, explain the conditions etation will also change as a reaction

24 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Open stand of Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) Alliance with an understory including red brome (Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens) and Mediterranean grass (Schismus spp.). Recent invasion by non-native grasses increase the risk of this vegetation burning. Photograph by T. Keeler-Wolf. to the new processes. Taken more requirements, general morphology, plants that allow them to interact broadly, by comparing characteris- and other genetically controlled with their current environment. Some tics of multiple vegetation types traits for each distinguishing plant of these traits are evolutionarily con- within a large parcel of land or wa- species and the type, frequency, and servative and unvarying, while oth- tershed, we can begin to understand intensity of fire or other natural pro- ers are more pliable and may vary how its diversity has changed, or has cesses associated with a set of alli- throughout the range of the species. not, under current conditions. In ad- ances in that region. We used this This last notion is captured in the dition, we can better understand how information, together with literature category “regional variation.” to conserve its diversity by grasping surveys and detailed interviews with The concept behind the Fire Re- the role of fire and other natural other fire ecologists, in developing gime Table (Figure 2) is to describe processes at the landscape level. the two tables for each alliance. All the fire characteristics for each alli- told, over 50 professional ecologists, ance with respect to temporal (fire land managers, and other scientists return, seasonality), spatial (fire size, HOW WE PRESENT THE contributed to the information in complexity), and magnitude (fire in- INFORMATION these tables, in addition to informa- tensity, severity, type) attributes us- tion derived from scores of publica- ing the currently authoritative book With help from members of tions. on California fire ecology (Sugihara the U.S. Forest Service’s Joint Fire The categories in the Life History et al. 2006). The resulting fire re- Sciences Program, we held a series Table (Figure 1) summarize essen- gime information describes fire con- of five regional workshops around tial traits for distinguishing species ditions favorable to the plant spe- the state between 2000 and 2003. At that define an alliance. These traits cies that define the alliance. these meetings, we collectively con- comprise the “code” or the basic set It is important to note that wild- sidered the longevity, germination of advantages and constraints of fires can burn across whole land-

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 25 scapes. Fires are often impartial to affect how the fire burns; in some fire affects a particular stand of veg- biologically defined boundaries; one cases a fire may burn only portions etation) for each alliance for two fire often impacts several adjacent of a single stand or lots of stands of main reasons. We often do not have stands of many other alliances in many alliances. Fire is also not a enough data on plant responses to the burned areas. However, the bio- completely regular and predictable fire to arrive at precise fire return logical and physical characteristics event, and it may occur at different intervals. More importantly, natural of each stand of vegetation can also times of the year, and at different processes such as fire influence the frequencies, affected character of the vegetation depend- by seasonal weather, ing on the time between events topography, geogra- (whether a relatively short or long phy, yearly variances interval), and the pattern of the in plant productivity, events (whether a mild understory and human influ- surface or an intense crown fire). ences. These two variables, in turn, affect However, we can- the composition and structure of the not determine exact resulting vegetation. So, we assign fire return intervals general terms (e.g., short, medium, (e.g., how frequently long) in the tables. These are often

LEFT: Fires significantly reduce the shrub cover, and species such as the matchweed (Gutierrezia spp.) and non-native grasses that thrive following disturbances dominate for many years afterwards before creosote can recover. • BELOW: Bigpod ceanothus (Ceanothus megacarpus) occurs in a patchwork with other chaparral in the Santa Monica Mountains in Ven- tura County, where fire and other disturbance modify the nature of stands. Photographs by J. Evens.

26 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 supplemented by a range of years FIGURE 3. THE LIFE HISTORY AND FIRE REGIME TABLES OF for the shorter and the longer aver- LARREA TRIDENTATA–AMBROSIA DUMOSA ALLIANCE. ages of time between fires, when this information is known from ob- servations. The fire types listed (de- Life History Traits of Principle Species fined in Appendix 2 of MCV2) also Larrea tridentata Ambrosia dumosa may vary depending on the character of the vegetation and its geo- Life forms Shrub; drought Shrub; drought graphic location. deciduous deciduous; clonal It is important to note that the Seed storage Soil Soil statements on fire return intervals Seed longevity Medium Medium should not be taken out of context, particularly since they may be used Mode of dispersal Animal; gravity Animal; tumbling to make decisions about land man- wind agement. For example, when inter- Germination agents Chemical; heat None preting these parenthetical ranges in Mode of sprouting Underground Underground a fire return interval, one should not structures structures strictly select an upper or lower value Survivability after Fire-sensitive; Fire-sensitive; or the calculated mean between the fire/disturbance no/low sprouter no/low sprouter extremes. We present these ranges as broad guides, not as stringent and literal rules. A good case in point can be illustrated by chaparral stands con- taining species with different adap- Fire Characteristics tive strategies, such as white leaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida), an ob- Fire return interval Truncated long ligate seeding shrub, and birch leaf Seasonality Spring–summer–fall mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus Size/extent Small to moderate montanus), a resprouting shrub. Complexity Low Keeley et al. (2005) have found that stands of these species are tolerant of Intensity High long fire-free periods, and even 100+ Severity Moderate year-old stands show no perceptible Type Passive-active crown fire reduction in their ability to recover following fire. Note: Additional information in these tables can be found in the MCV2 With the standardized attributes presented in the life history and fire regime tables, users may apply the For example, the life form (tree, It is also important to remember information in the book to a given shrub, herbaceous plant) and the that many stands in California have patch or stand of vegetation to help particular genetic traits of the spe- persisted for thousands of years with- answer a series of questions. For cies (e.g., seed storage, mode of out regular influence by fire. Only example, are the factors that influ- sprouting, and survivability after relatively recently has fire become ence its effective reproduction, re- fire) clearly influence the species’ frequent in some areas with the in- cruitment, and regeneration being perseverance under certain fire char- troduction of nonnative weedy plants met in this stand, so there is a high acteristics. Fire type, the interval be- along with human-instigated fires. likelihood of the vegetation’s per- tween fires, fire intensity, and the For example, increased fire frequen- sistence (Figure 1)? Such questions other characteristics synthesized in cies have altered much of the vegeta- are relative to the recent history of each fire regime table expresses the tion in California’s warm deserts. A the particular stand. Since fire his- physical, temporal, and spatial ef- classic example involves a wide- tory is a principal influential natu- fects of fire on the vegetation of each spread alliance, the Larrea tridentata– ral process that impacts the viabil- alliance. Taken together, these tables Ambrosia dumosa Alliance. A quick ity of vegetation stands in Califor- can be used to interpret the ecologi- look at the life history and fire re- nia, the fire regime table (Figure 2) cal status of any stand of vegetation gime tables for this alliance will tell is also helpful in answering these and understand how it has been im- you how troublesome frequent fire questions. pacted by fire. can be (Figure 3).

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 27 The fire characteristics found in can produce many seeds. While literature are in direct conflict with Figure 3 are from page 567 in the ceanothus may start producing some recent findings. For example, chemi- Manual. Both Ambrosia dumosa and seeds from small young shrubs, if cals that accumulate in the soil from Larrea tridentata exhibit limited fires occur when the shrubs are rela- chamise chaparral (Adenostoma fasci- sprouting ability after fire, and L. tively young, fewer seeds are likely culatum Alliance) do not appear to tridentata has resinous foliage that to be stored in the soil. If fires occur negatively impact the community is highly flammable (Vasek 1979, every few years, just after young of plants as once thought. Further- 1983, Marshall 1995b). Low-inten- ceanothus are first producing seeds, more, these chemicals do not cause sity fires can cause up to 100% mor- it may only take a few successive stand stagnation, but rather can in- tality in both L. tridentata and A. close-interval fires to deplete the seed crease after fire (Keeley et al. 1985, dumosa, but some shrubs can sur- bank. Halsey 2004, and summarized in vive if crowns are only partially con- By properly interpreting the McMurray 1990). As research of life sumed. Mortality rates are probably MCV2, readers will notice that while history and fire regime characteris- related to rainfall conditions during this ceanothus’ fire return interval is tics continues to expand, our tables the immediate post-fire years, and estimated to average between 25 and and descriptions must be updated. both species may colonize success- 55 years, the plant is reproductively We seek any information that will fully by seed from offsite sources in viable from 10 to 100+ years. Thus, improve our descriptions, and are high rainfall years following a fire a fluctuating fire return interval be- planning to produce an online ver- (Brooks and Minnich 2006). How- tween the youngest reproductive age sion of the Manual so it can be up- ever, A. dumosa can colonize more (about 10 yrs.) and oldest age (100+ dated periodically. rapidly after fire and may dominate yrs.) is reasonable. Repeat fires at alone for a number of years before the short end of the reported range SELECTED REFERENCES both L. tridentata and A. dumosa re- (ex., between 10 and 25 yrs.) are gain similar pre-fire dominance. much less likely to ensure stand re- Keeley, J.E., B.A. Morton, A. Pedrosa, generation than longer intervals (> and P. Trotter. 1985. Role of allelopa- thy, heat, and charred wood in the ANOTHER EXAMPLE 25 yrs.). Thus, understanding the natural history of diagnostic vegeta- germination of chaparral herbs and Big pod ceanothus (Ceanothus tion species and the effects of un- suffrutescents. Journal of Ecology 73: 445-458. megacarpus) is a classic obligate seed- natural fire regimes on native veg- Halsey, R.W. 2004. In search of allelopa- ing chaparral shrub of southern Cali- etation is extremely important to thy: An eco-historical view of the in- fornia. It typically dies after the nor- long-term ecosystem viability. vestigation of chemical inhibition in mally intense fires of the region. Yet California coastal sage scrub and cha- as with Arctostaphylos viscida (Fig- mise chaparral. Journal of the Torrey ure 1), seeds of the ceanothus are SUMMARY AND Botanical Society 131: 343-367. stored in the soil. Seedlings germi- CONCLUSIONS Keeley, J.E., A.H. Pfaff, and H.D. nate within a few years after fire Safford. 2005. Fire suppression im- under natural fire regimes, and grow We include the new tables and pacts on postfire recovery of Sierra quickly to replace previously burned text in the Manual as guides for con- Nevada chaparral shrublands. Inter- stands, sometimes preceded by short- servationists, natural historians, and national Journal of Wildland Fire 14: 255-265. lived stands of disturbance followers land managers, so that mosaics of McMurray, N. 1990. Adenostoma fasci- like deer weed (Lotus scoparius). natural vegetation can be interpreted culatum. In Fire Effects Information Large acreages of big pod ceano- and information can be used appro- System. USDA, Forest Service, Rocky thus (pp. 452-543 in MCV2) have priately within an ecological con- Mountain Research Station. http:// covered the Santa Ynez, Santa Moni- text. This information, in many www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ ca, and other coastal mountains in cases, has been summarized for the the past, yet stands are less exten- first time in our book, and was as- Todd Keeler-Wolf, Biogeographic Data sive today, even in areas that still sembled from a wide variety of Branch, California Department of Fish are covered with natural vegeta- sources including published and and Game, 1807 13th Street, Room 202, tion. Why? A likely reason is that peer-reviewed literature and inter- Sacramento, CA 95811, [email protected]. human-initiated fires are occurring views with knowledgeable experts. gov; Julie Evens, California Native Plant more frequently than C. megacarpus Fire ecology is a rapidly expanding Society, 2707 K Street, Suite 1, Sacra- stands can build up the necessary field and much new information is mento, CA 95816, [email protected]; John banks of soil-stored seeds for stands coming to light even since the pub- O. Sawyer, Department of Biological Sci- to regenerate. As with other chapar- lication of the MCV2. ences, Humboldt State University, Arcata, ral shrubs, larger ceanothus plants Sometimes older assertions in the CA 95521, [email protected]

28 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Invasive grasses and forbs have invaded this fuel break in the Santa Ynez Mountains above Santa Barbara. Photograph by C. D’Antonio. INVASIVE SPECIES AND FIRE IN CALIFORNIA ECOSYSTEMS by Adam M. Lambert, Carla M. D’Antonio, and Tom L. Dudley

nvasive plant species occur through- fire—have played an important role California’s shrublands, wood- out all floristic regions of Cali- in the evolution of California plant lands, grasslands, wetlands, and for- fornia, but their spatial extent, di- communities, but human influences ests occupy different elevation and versity, and impacts within these have changed fire regimes, some- moisture zones, creating unique fire Iregions vary considerably. Alter- times in ways that shift the relative regimes that have benefitted particu- ations of natural disturbance regimes dominance of native and non-native lar invasive species. Plant associa- have made communities more sus- species. Invasive plants may be ditions that differ in physiognomy, fire ceptible to these invasions (Brooks rectly responsible for changes in fire regimes, and fuel types may vary in et al. 2004). Fire is a natural and regimes through increased biomass, their resistance and resilience to fire. chronic disturbance in many Cali- changes in the distribution of flam- Fire regimes have been best studied fornia plant communities and has mable biomass, increased flamma- in conifer forests and shrublands, been observed to promote and be bility, and altered timing of fuel dry- but are poorly understood in Cali- promoted by invasive species in sev- ing, while others may be “fire fol- fornia’s grasslands. The role of fire eral of the communities. lowers” whose abundances increase in riparian or other wetland systems Fire regimes—the type, fre- as a result of shortening of fire re- is particularly poorly known, pre- quency, intensity and timing of turn intervals. sumably because these habitats have

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 29 long been considered barriers to fire cheatgrass, setting in motion a cycle due to the high moisture content of that is difficult to break. soil and vegetation. For example, work by Steve Most evidence indicates that the Whisenant, now at Texas A&M Uni- strongest impacts of invasive plants versity, quantified alterations in fire on fire regimes in California occur frequency and the dramatic loss of in coastal sage scrub, deserts, and native species in Idaho’s Snake River riparian areas. The subject of how Plains as a result of lightning-caused fire regimes are being changed in summer fires fueled by dead cheat- these systems will be addressed later grass. Could this happen in Califor- on. In general, one of the least re- nia? Red brome (Bromus madritensis versible and most significant impacts ssp. rubens) and other invasive an- Purple veldtgrass (Ehrharta calycina) in on native species occurs when in- nual grasses increase fire frequen- burned coastal sage scrub site at Vanden- troduced plant species alter the fre- cies in the western Mojave Desert in berg Air Force Base, approximately 15 quency of fire. In the intermountain California, and cheatgrass has been years after fire. Fire is a natural disturbance in these ecosystems, but Ehrharta regen- west, cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) part of the fuel in sagebrush fires erates very rapidly after fire and appears has affected more areas than any in the Owens Valley. But so far, few to suppress the recovery of native species. other invasive plant. Plant ecolo- sites have burned multiple times and Photograph by C. D’Antonio. gists observed in the mid-1900s that it is not yet clear if a grass/fire cycle invasion by cheatgrass increased fire as has developed in the central Great alter fire dynamics or whose abun- frequencies by creating continuous Basin will develop in the California dance is increased following fire. standing fuel between shrubs in deserts. However, for many of these species, these lightning-prone habitats. This, The California Invasive Plant there is little published evidence to in turn, has led to a decline in native Council plant inventory lists 104 corroborate these accounts. Some species and increased invasion by species that have the potential to of these species most likely influ-

Abundant invasive, nonnative annual grasses growing between and within a stand of native species at a recently burned chaparral site in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, Orange County. Photograph by C. D’Antonio.

30 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 ence some aspect of fire regimes, but many may not. Here, we focus on the invasive plants that are well known for their interaction with fire, and provide case histories of invasion by the most problematic of these plants in the major upland and wetland ecosystems of Califor- nia. We primarily address those invasive species that appear to alter fire regimes, rather than focusing on the many more non-native species that appear to opportunistically benefit from the presence of fire in our landscapes.

SHRUBLANDS When one thinks of fire in Cali- fornia, one immediately thinks of the massive conflagrations that oc- Monotypic giant reed stand (Arundo donax) in the Santa Clara River, Ventura County. cur in central and southern Califor- A human-initiated fire burned through several kilometers of the riparian zone, fueled nia chaparral and sage-scrub eco- primarily by giant reed. The dead trees remaining are cottonwoods and willows. Photograph systems, particularly because of their by A. Lambert. close proximity to dense population centers. These closed-canopy shrub- ticularly implicated since they act as and germination of seeds in the soil lands—particularly intact chapar- wicks, spreading fast-moving fire when heated and/or exposed to ral—are in fact relatively resistant into the canopies of larger shrub smoke. But increasing fire frequen- to invasion by non-native species. vegetation. cies in these systems, especially near However, non-native plants are in- Human activity also tends to be urban centers, has led to a loss in creasingly closely tied to fire dy- focused on these edges, making ig- native species that rely on seed re- namics and to ecosystem responses nition far more likely to occur. generation due to insufficient recov- to fire in some regions. (Lightning is uncommon in these ery time between fires for shrubs to Under natural conditions, chap- systems and is rarely implicated in reach reproductive age. For example, arral communities retain most fuels ignitions except at high elevations.) researcher Anna Jacobsen, who stud- in the canopy layer and have rela- Jon Keeley and others have noted ied repeated short-interval fire in tively long fire intervals (greater than that the frequency of ignition has the Santa Monica Mountains, has 20 years). Contrary to common per- dramatically increased as a conse- found that return intervals of less ception, foliar tissue does not easily quence of human activity, and the than 12 years cause substantial re- ignite except under super-heated presence of these weedy plants ex- ductions in shrub densities, includ- conditions or when leaf tissue mois- acerbates this interaction. In essence, ing loss of obligate seeding shrubs ture is low. However, several weedy the widespread presence of annual and a decline in some of the re- forbs and grasses tend to thrive at grasses—both because of their ear- sprouter species. The eventual re- the disturbed edges of these shrub- lier seasonal drying compared to sult is a habitat that contains an lands along roads, power lines, and shrubs and their high surface area open mosaic of exotic annual grasses fuel breaks where shrubs are re- to volume ratio—has enhanced the and a few resprouting shrubs. Thus, moved. The invasive, annual grasses volume of readily ignitable fuel and increased fire frequency results in a that often colonize these areas dry increased the seasonal duration conversion of native shrublands to a out much earlier in the spring than when fuels are readily susceptible to more open, grass-invaded system the native shrubs, and with their ignition. with scattered woody plants. The high surface area to volume ratio, At historic fire frequencies, application of prescribed fire for are more prone to ignition than the shrublands are generally resilient “brush removal” in wildlands simi- native vegetation. Mediterranean to fire. Chaparral species are well- larly contributes to counterproduc- grasses such as Bromus species and known to regenerate from both tive vegetation type conversion. slender oats (Avena barbata) are par- resprouting of perennial root crowns Shrublands along California’s

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 31 Tamarisk resprouting following a fire at the Cibola National Wildlife along the lower Colorado River. Photograph by A. Lambert. foggy central coast are also affected in fire occurrence and an increase in In the Great Basin systems east by an increase in the abundance of the growth of highly competitive of the Sierra Nevada, cheatgrass the fire-responsive African peren- grasses after fire could lead to the (Bromus tectorum) is the primary nial veldtgrass (Ehrharta calycina). decline of endemic species. species of concern, thriving where This species was introduced at least soil disturbance from historic live- 40 years ago for erosion control in DESERTS stock grazing has promoted its es- sandy soils. It produces relatively tablishment in the interspaces be- continuous fuel that promotes the Invasive grasses have played an tween shrubs like sagebrush (Arte- spread of fire through coastal chap- even more fundamental role in al- misia tridentata), bitter brush (Pur- arral and sage scrub, but it also re- tering fire dynamics and causing shia tridentata), and rabbit brush sponds rapidly to fire. This species native plant declines in desert eco- (Chrysothamnus spp.). Lightning also promotes fire and it increases systems. In general, deserts are strikes often ignite fires in the re- in density following fire in similar among the least invaded ecosystems gion, but whereas historically these Mediterranean climate areas of in North America, in terms of the would have burned short distances Southwest Australia. The result in number of non-native species that and then died out because of the California is that many habitats have become established and the discontinuous fuels, cheatgrass now which burned either in accidental proportion of the flora they repre- provides a continuous fuelbed be- or prescribed fires are becoming sent (Rejmanek and Richardson tween senescent (end of aging pro- heavily dominated by low diversity 1994). Roughly 5% of the flora is cess when plant tissues become dor- stands of veldtgrass. This conver- comprised of exotic species, presum- mant, dry, or are dropped) sage- sion is most apparent on Vandenberg ably owing to physiological stresses brush, resulting in very large fires. Air Force base where Ehrharta was caused by the harsh climate and In the Mojave Desert, the same widely planted in the 1900s and has moisture conditions. However, a few impact is caused by low-growing spread widely. Such coastal chapar- ecosystem-changing grass species are Mediterranean grasses (Schismus ral and shrublands on unique ma- increasing the frequency of fires in barbatus and S. arabicus), as well as rine terrace soils (in this case, sands) California deserts. The exact spe- by red brome. All are annual grasses are well known for their high ende- cies differ in each desert, but all that fill in the space between shrubs. mism (being unique to a particular threaten the future sustainability of In the Sonora/Colorado Desert, geographic region). So an increase these fragile ecosystems. senesced red brome is implicated in

32 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 supporting fast moving surface fires can reduce non-native grasses, this est ecosystems in California such as and shortening fire intervals (Rogers effect is short-lived, and only recur- Ponderosa pine woodlands. Keeley and Steele 1980, Phillips 1992). rent fire or fire combined with graz- has documented its occurrence in Many desert plant species are not ing can keep down non-native the understory of Ponderosa-domi- adapted to fire, so are gradually be- grasses. At the same time, some non- nated sites where it becomes abun- ing replaced by monotypic stands of native forbs such as species in the dant after fire. However, it is not annual grasses. Large-scale type con- genus Erodium and black mustard clear that cheatgrass has any long- version of endemic desert plant com- (Brassica nigra) are promoted by fire. term impact on these ecosystems. munities is more prevalent in Ari- Thus, the use of fire in grasslands to Abundant cheatgrass growth during zona and Nevada to-date, but recent enhance native species must be care- the early years after fire when tree fires in the Owens Valley and areas fully done, and consideration of what seedlings are small could result in of the Mojave show that our desert non-native species are in the local an increased probability of fire oc- ecosystems are not immune to such seedbank is a key element. But over- currence, to the detriment of the irreversible impacts. all, fire is not considered a key fac- young woody plants, but data to Sahara mustard (Brassica tourne- tor in the maintenance of invasive support this is lacking. fortii) is a short-lived forb that poses plant dominance, nor an appropri- a serious threat to desert ecosys- ate management tool for eliminat- RIPARIAN SYSTEMS tems. While it has not yet caused ing non-native species in most Cali- serious fire events in sand-domi- fornia grasslands. Riparian ecosystems encompass nated sections of the Mojave, this a wide variety of habitats, from small large, multi-branched plant is form- FORESTS springs and vernal pools to large ing nearly continuous stands and is rivers, coastal marshlands, and natu- already crowding out annual wild- In California, there is a general ral and man-made lakes, and sup- flowers. It will almost certainly be- pattern of decreasing numbers of port much of the biodiversity found come fuel for destructive wildfire in non-native plant species with increas- in California. Riparian vegetation is the future. ing elevation (Keeley et al. 2011). defined by plants with regular ac- Fuel management practices in conif- cess to groundwater or soil mois- GRASSLANDS erous forest ecosystems have gener- ture, so typically, riparian plants ally decreased fire frequency, but at have higher foliar moisture than California’s grasslands have a his- the same time have increased the se- upland plants. Higher moisture tory of human management that has verity of wildfires compared with content imparts greater resistance impeded accurate documentation of other fire-prone systems. Woody fuel to and reduced damage from fire, so fire cycles. Early human inhabitants accumulation (of native species), live- riparian areas are often considered used fire to reduce woody plant cover stock grazing, and logging—which to be functional barriers to the spread and maintain grassland habitats for creates even-aged stands replete with of wildfire (Pettit and Naiman 2007). hunting, and to promote growth of ladder fuels—have altered fire re- However, several invasive plants particular species. After Euro-Ameri- gimes from historical low- or mixed- in California riparian systems are can colonization, grasslands were severity understory fires to larger, changing these dynamics. For ex- maintained by intensive livestock more intense crown fires. These high- ample, giant reed (Arundo donax) grazing, and fire was used to convert intensity fires create crown gaps and and tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) are well shrublands to grasslands. Today fire appear to occur more frequently than known to be highly flammable, yet frequencies are low in these eco- in the past. Montane coniferous for- both species recover rapidly from systems, likely lower than prior to ests in California generally have a fire by regrowth from below-ground European settlement. lower diversity of invasive species plant parts. By contrast, cotton- California grasslands are domi- and a different composition of inva- woods, willows, and other native nated by European annual grasses, sive species than lower elevation woody plants are much less tolerant even in regions that have not burned woodlands and grasslands. Many of of direct exposure to fire. Recent for decades. Prescribed fire has been the invasive species problems in for- studies suggest that the invasive used as a tool in some invaded grass- est ecosystems have been attributed plants mentioned above are making lands to try to manage against non- to management practices that reduce riparian systems fire-prone. native grasses, but results have been fire frequency. Giant reed is a large, bamboo- mixed as demonstrated in a meta- Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) like grass from southern Eurasia that analysis conducted by D’Antonio appears to be one invasive plant that is altering the diversity and func- and Bainbridge (Corbin et al. 2004). is an increasingly common invader tion of riparian corridors through- While it appears that a single fire of some of the drier coniferous for- out coastal California. In Southern

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 33 TABLE 1. NON-NATIVE, INVASIVE PLANTS POTENTIALLY ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGE IN FIRE REGIME OR FUEL CONDITIONS IN CALIFORNIA Common Name Scientific Name Habitat* Habitats of Concern and Comments

ANNUAL GRASSES

barbed goatgrass Aegilops triuncialis G, C, W Spreading into serpentine grasslands where it could promote fire in otherwise sparse vegetation wild oats Avena fatua, A. barbata G Ignition on trails, roads, disturbance corridors ripgut brome Bromus diandrus G, C, W Widespread and abundant, particularly in nitrogen-rich soils red brome Bromus madritensis ssp. G, D Desert and desert washes in Mojave rubens cheat grass, downy brome Bromus tectorum D Primarily high desert, but also in parts of lower Mojave and Sierra Nevada foxtail barley Hordeum murinum ssp. G Widespread, could change fuel continuity leporinum in some sites Mediterranean grass Schismus arabicus, S. barbatus D Produces continuous fine fuels in arid shrublands, esp. Mojave desert medusahead Taeniatherum caput-medusae G, D Common in grasslands of North Coast ranges and north Central Valley, spreading into high desert PERENNIAL GRASSES

beach grass Ammophila arenaria, 1 Creates dense fine fuels in coastal dunes, A. breviligulata where fire typically would not burn giant reed Arundo donax R Low gradient floodplains; drought tolerant, highly fire-promoting jubata grass, pampas grass Cortaderia jubata, C. selloana G, C Primarily coastal habitats; could influence fuel continuity veldt grass Ehrharta calycina G Sandy soils, especially dune shrublands on central coast smilo grass Piptatherum miliaceum G, C, W, Expanding range; can invade into R disturbed chaparral. Future signifi- cance unclear, but could change chaparral fire regime. ravenna grass Saccharum ravennae D, R Emerging concern in North Coast riparian scrub; considered fire hazard in Arizona fountain grass Pennisetum setaceum G, C Roadsides, also coastal dunes. Some horticultural cultivars sterile. Highly invasive and fire promoting in Hawaii. FORBS

fivehook bassia, forage Bassia hyssopifolia, B. scoparia D, R Alkaline habitats and disturbed areas kochia (formerly Kochia) where it forms continuous stands black mustard Brassica nigra G, C, R Widespread in disturbed sites and coastal shrublands; high standing biomass. Flammability poorly known.

34 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Sahara mustard Brassica tournefortii D Favors sandy substrates and dunes thistles Carduus spp., Cirsium spp., G, C, W, Could be ladder fuels in open woodlands; Cynara cardunculus, R disturbed soils Silybum marianum yellow starthistle Centaurea solstitialis G, R Large stands provide continuous fuel, but flammability poorly known tumble or tansy mustard Descurainia sophia D, R Impacts appear to be minor, but locally more invasive in northeast CA perennial pepperweed, Lepidium latifolium R Dense stands of standing biomass in tall whitetop wetland margins; range expanding Russian thistle Salsola tragus D, R Forms dense stands in disturbed alkaline sites; tumbleweeds can accumulate along fence lines and structures, causing a build-up of fuels SHRUBS

Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius C Coastal scrub, oak woodland, perennial grasslands; could enhance fuel accumulation French broom Genista monspessulana C, R Coastal scrub, oak woodlands, grasslands, particularly in understory, creating additional dry biomass Spanish broom Spartium junceum C, R Coastal scrub, grasslands, wetlands, oak woodland, forests; mostly found in open canopy gorse Ulex europaeus G, C Coastal bluffs and grasslands; may not be highly flammable but adds substantial biomass to grasslands TREES

tree-of-heaven Ailanthus altissima C, W, R Fire tolerant, litter burns Tasmanian blue gum Eucalyptus globulus W, R Coastal habitats; spreads from plantations and can enhance fire intensity; source of firebrands near urban areas Peruvian peppertree Schinus molle C Southern CA coastal hillsides; promoted by fire athel Tamarix aphylla D, R Limited distribution; evergreen species; lower fire risk than deciduous congeners tamarisk, saltcedar Tamarix ramosissima, T. D, R Major fire hazard throughout western chinensis, T. parviflora, etc. states; replaces less flammable riparian vegetation fan palms Washingtonia robusta, R Native to isolated desert springs; W. filifera spreads from ornamental plantings; source of firebrands near urban areas VINE

cape ivy Delairea odorata R Coastal, both riparian and fog-affected chaparral; hanging dry biomass could be fuel, esp. when killed back by frost The plants listed above have known impacts or greatest potential to influence fire regimes, or to become fire hazards as their populations increase. Other invasive plants with little or no available fire-related information were not included. *G = grassland, C = chaparral, W = woodlands, D = desert, R = riparian 1 Occurs only in coastal beach dunes

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 35 California, giant reed has fueled fires flammable litter layer. They also oc- REFERENCES around urban areas and facilitated cur during the growing season when fire spread to natural areas, and is tamarisk is also susceptible to igni- Brooks, M., T. Dudley, G. Drus, and J. alleged to reduce the ability of river tion and may burn with greater in- Matchett. 2008. Reducing wildfire risk by integration of prescribed burning courses to act as natural barriers to tensity owing to volatile compounds and biological control of invasive fire. Coffman and her collaborators in live, green foliage. In a coopera- tamarisk (Tamarix spp.). USGS Ad- at UCLA examined the regrowth tive study of tamarisk-fueled fires ministrative Report, Project 05-2-1- rates of giant reed and nearby na- by the University of California and 18, El Portal, CA. tive woody vegetation following a the U.S. Geological Survey, Gail Drus Brooks, M.L., et al. 2004. Effects of in- 300-hectare fire in the Santa Clara found that across the desert regions vasive alien plants on fire regimes. River (Ventura and Los Angeles there is a correlation between the BioScience 54:677-688. Counties) in 2005. Giant reed grew relative abundance of tamarisk and Corbin, J.C., C.M. D’Antonio, and S.J. three to four times faster following extent of native plant mortality. In Bainbridge. 2004. Tipping the balance fire, and within one year its density other words, as tamarisk becomes in the restoration of native plants: Experimental approaches to chang- was 20 times greater than native more abundant, there is a greater ing the exotic:native ratio in Califor- species. This suggests that rapid re- loss of native vegetation during fire nia grassland. In Experimental Ap- growth of the highly flammable bio- and acceleration toward eventual proaches To Conservation Biology, ed. mass creates an invasive plant-fire monocultures of this widespread in- M. Gordon and L. Bartol. University cycle that ultimately leads to a de- vader. Interestingly, the introduc- of California Press, Los Angeles. cline in native species in these eco- tion of the tamarisk leaf beetle Keeley, J.E., J. Franklin, and C.M. systems. (Diorhabda spp.) for biological con- D’Antonio. 2011. Fire and invasive In more arid regions, tamarisk trol of tamarisk may protect native plants on California landscapes. In or saltcedar (Tamarix spp.) is con- plants because, even in the absence The Landscape Ecology of Fire, ed. D. sidered to be one of the most de- of tamarisk mortality, by reducing McKenzie, C. Miller, and D.A. Falk. structive invaders of the southwest- tamarisk canopy density, the threat Springer, NY. Pettit, N. and R. Naiman. 2007. Fire in ern U.S. This shrubby tree was in- of fire to native plants is reduced the riparian zone: Characteristics troduced from Eurasia in the 1800s (Brooks et al. 2008). and ecological consequences. Eco- for erosion control, windbreaks, and Comparatively little is known systems 10:673-687. other horticultural uses. It now about most invasive plants in Cali- Phillips, B.G. 1992. Status of non-na- dominates desert riparian corridors fornia and their relationship to wild- tive plant species, Tonto National such as the lower Colorado River fire. The above examples are the Monument, Arizona. The University and parts of the Owens River where best observed cases of invasive of Arizona, School of Renewable water and land management have plants changing the dynamics of Natural Resources, Cooperative Na- degraded conditions for native cot- fire in California ecosystems, al- tional Park Resources Study Unit, tonwood, willow, and/or mesquite though some are still anecdotal. Tucson, AZ. vegetation. Tamarisk has also dis- Further scientific evaluation is nec- Rejmanek, M. and D.M. Richardson. placed some native riparian wood- essary to accurately identify the 1994. Invasive alien plants in Cali- fornia: 1993 summary and compari- lands in relatively healthy water- mechanisms that lead to these son with other areas in North Ameri- sheds such as Coyote Creek in Anza- changes or to determine whether ca. Madroño 41:161-177. Borrego State Park. The relatively changes are reversible. Current evi- Rogers, G.F. and J. Steele. 1980. Sonoran long intervals between flood events dence suggests that annual and Desert fire ecology. In Proceedings of allow tamarisk seedlings to reach some perennial grasses have the the Fire History Workshop. Depart- maturity, and subsequently to in- strongest effects on fire regimes and ment of Agriculture, Forest Service, hibit establishment of native plants. act as ecosystem transformers. In Rocky Mountain Forest and Range In these locations, wildfires have many ecosystems, the dense growth Experiment Station, Tucson, AZ. become frequent. For example, on habit and flammable tissue of inva- the Colorado River bordering Cali- sive grasses create continuous drier Adam M. Lambert, Marine Science Insti- fornia and Arizona, Bureau of Rec- fuels that are lacking in uninvaded tute, University of California, Santa Bar- lamation researcher David Busch has communities. Further research bara, CA 93106, [email protected]; Carla M. D’Antonio, Ecology, Evolution, shown that over a third (approxi- should evaluate the effect of these and Marine Biology, University of Cali- mately 37%) of riparian vegetation and other invasive life forms (forbs, fornia, Santa Barbara 93106, dantonio@ burned during a 12-year period. shrubs, trees, etc.) on fire regimes es.ucsb.edu; Tom L. Dudley, Marine Sci- Such fires occur in the fall/winter to guide management efforts to con- ence Institute, University of California, period when the deciduous plants serve and restore California native Santa Barbara, CA 93106, tdudley@msi. drop foliage which builds up into a plant communities. ucsb.edu

36 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 SUSTAINABLE AND FIRE-SAFE LANDSCAPES: ACHIEVING WILDFIRE RESISTANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH IN THE WILDLAND-URBAN INTERFACE by Sabrina L. Drill

nvasive plants, those non-native scapes require a lot of water and them fire-prone, many are actually species that cause ecological or must be wet or damp throughout highly resistant and tolerant of fire economic harm, are one of the fire season, or that a landscaped area and recover quickly after a wildfire, great threats to the health of cannot be both fire-safe and drought making them excellent choices for a ISouthern California’s wildland- tolerant. In fact, one of the features fire-safe landscape. urban interface (WUI) areas. Fire is that can decrease the risk posed by a A final myth is that a green one of the greatest threats to the plant species is its ability to retain groundcover is intrinsically fire- homeowners living in those areas. high moisture content in leaves and resistant. While a low, prostrate Unfortunately, for many years a false other tissues with very little water. growth form and high moisture con- conflict was created between these From an invasive plant perspective, tent are fire-resistant traits, plants two issues, when fire departments, however, this means that the plants such as iceplant, ivy, and periwinkle nurseries, and others recommended most likely to invade chaparral and (often referred to as vinca) can pose invasive plants to homeowners as coastal sage-dominated areas suc- a fire risk. This is because under part of a fire-safe landscape. cessfully may also be those exotics that deceptively healthy-looking The Natural Resources team at recommended as drought-tolerant. green surface is often hiding a layer UC-Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Another myth is that most Cali- of dead, dry, entangled thatch. The in Los Angeles County created the fornia native plants are intrinsically healthy looking top layer tends to Sustainable and Fire-Safe (SAFE) highly flammable, and that chapar- discourage proper landscaping main- Landscapes program to increase fire ral and coastal sage systems require tenance, thereby contributing to its safety and wildland health by show- frequent fire to be healthy. While fire hazard. ing homeowners how to create and several Southern California natives Contrary to what many people maintain fire-safe landscapes with- do possess characteristics that make think, it is not possible to make out introducing invasive species. Limiting the use of invasive spe- In October 2003, numerous wildfires (indicated by red outlines) burned simultaneously cies in highly fire-prone areas is par- throughout Southern California and northern Baja California, Mexico. Image captured by ticularly important for a number of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-Radiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on October 26, 2003. reasons. First, both the fire risk and the risk of plant invasion are height- ened by the geography. Homeowners in the WUI who use invasive plants are exacerbating both problems, often unwittingly, since their properties border our few remaining areas of natural habitat. In addition, several of the invasive species commonly planted in these areas possess weedy characteristics that make them highly flammable.

MYTHS ABOUT FIRE, RISK, AND SAFETY

There are several myths about fire and risk in Southern California areas. The first is that fire-safe land-

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 37 vegetated areas, such as desert com- et al. 2006a). This process may have munities, invasive plants often oc- been exacerbated even further by cupy the space between the native human activities such as post-fire desert scrub, thereby creating a con- seeding, which in the past actively tinuous fuel load that more easily introduced invasive species such as ignites and transmits fire (Klinger et wild oat (Avena spp.) and rye (Lolium al. 2006). In riparian areas, invasive spp.). Previously, this was thought plants like giant reed (Arundo donax), to be a useful tool for erosion pre- which produce a great deal of biom- vention. Several studies, however, ass and then become dormant and have found it to be of very limited dry, can increase the intensity and utility (Keeley, et al. 2006b). severity of fire. Native riparian species generally do not burn easily, and fires in riparian areas are natu- THE SAFE LANDSCAPES rally rare and of low intensity. But PROGRAM with the introduction of invasive species like arundo, fire in riparian As described above, the SAFE areas can occur in a wider range of Landscapes program was designed climatic conditions, and easily to deal with a specific issue involv- spread from surface to crown fires ing invasive plants and fire, namely (Bell et al., 2006). It can also inhibit the fact that certain invasive species fire recovery, and post-burn, arundo have been recommended for plant- can resprout from rhizomes and ing in the wildland/urban interface. colonize new downstream areas, in- To develop the program, we first hibiting native regrowth. convened a steering committee that After a fire, disturbed areas are included fire agencies, public and Invasive plants including castor bean (Ri- highly prone to invasion by weedy private land managers, environmen- cinus communis, foreground) and black pioneers such as annual grasses. tal groups, and representatives from mustard (Brassica nigra) invade a canyon in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 10 months Vegetation types that may have been the nursery and landscape industry. following the May 2007 fire that burned fire tolerant and recovered well un- Steering committee meetings were 800 acres. Photograph by the author. der natural conditions may now be themselves educational forums, as subject to type conversion. Type con- they were an opportunity for mem- broad statements about fire-risk and version is a process by which after bers to learn from each other. invasive plants, just as you cannot disturbance, one type of plant com- Our first step was to collect and for native plants. Each species must munity replaces the one that had review the recommendations for fire be evaluated separately. Finally, it is originally been there. Frequent fires safe landscaping being promoted and impossible to discuss the fire risk may cause replacement of chapar- disseminated by various groups in potential of any plant without also ral by non-native grasslands. There Southern California. We reviewed taking into account its health at any is a feedback loop—exotic grasses over 100 planting guides to identify given time. Any plant will burn un- invade a natural area, leaving the those that recommended the use of der the right conditions, and the area more fire prone, then they re- invasive plants in fire-safe or water- most “fire-resistant species” can be- cover faster than the native plants. conserving gardens. We used the come great fuel for a wildfire if it Hence, the progression is from a current list of invasive plant species contains a lot of dead tissue due to a native community, to a native com- of Southern California developed by lack of proper maintenance. munity with some invasive plants, the California Invasive Plant Coun- to a community dominated by in- cil as a reference. We found 34 lists vasive plants. that included invasive plants among FIRE AND INVASIVE This can occur even faster when their recommendations, and the PLANTS areas are not only more fire prone, agencies and organizations sponsor- but when frequent fires are also pro- ing those lists were sent letters iden- Fire and plant invasions are re- moted by fire starts due to human tifying the invasive plants they rec- lated in several ways. In natural plant activities (campfires, disposal of ommended and asking them to re- communities, the presence of inva- flaming trash (e.g., cigarette butts), move those species. Some of these sive plants can increase the risk of sparks from cars and other motors, larger organizations that have re- wildfire. For example, in sparsely downed power lines, etc.) (Keeley vised or are in the process of revis-

38 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 ing their planting guides include Lowe’s, Monrovia Nursery, the Natu- QUALITIES OF FIRE-RESISTANT VS. HIGHLY ral Resources Conservation Service, FLAMMABLE PLANTS Los Angeles County Fire Depart- ment, Beverly Hills Fire Department, While we avoid recommending particular plant species, we do focus the City of Santa Clarita, and Cuya- on characteristics that make plants more or less fire-resistant. maca College. Fire-resistant plants: • store water in leaves or stems • produce very little dead or fine material PRINCIPLES OF FIRE-SAFE • possess extensive, deep root systems for controlling erosion LANDSCAPING • maintain high moisture content with limited watering • grow slowly and need little maintenance While we identified, reviewed, • are low-growing in form and made recommendations to im- • contain low levels of volatile oils or resins prove existing plant lists, for our • have an open, loose branching habit with a low volume of total own program we have avoided dis- vegetation tributing a list. This is because we feel that plant lists can be mislead- Highly flammable plants: ing, giving the homeowner or land- • Retain large amounts of dead material within the plant scape designer the impression that • Produce a large volume of litter fire-safe landscaping is just about • Contain volatile substances such as oils, resins, wax, or pitch choosing the right species and avoiding the wrong ones. Because any plant species can burn, we focus around their homes—rather than mable materials such as firewood, instead on the underlying principles on changes they can make to the fuel canisters, and even fences and behind designing a fire-safe home structure itself or within the first 30 trellises can’t provide a conduit for and landscape, and on maintaining feet. In ember-driven wildfires, it fire to reach the house, and that structures and plants properly. can be far more effective to protect embers cannot collect under decks First, we begin by working from property by making sure that em- or eaves. the structure out, rather than from bers cannot enter the home through Of course we also recommend the wildlands in. Homeowners of- doors, windows, vents, or other gaps, choosing burn-resistant building ten spend far more effort “clearing than on any actions focused on the materials for roofs, siding, and decks. brush”—removing native vegeta- surrounding plants. We advise the UCCE research on fire-resistant tion that is 100 or more feet from homeowner to make sure that flam- materials and construction methods

A landscape in the Altadena area after appropriate fire hazard reduction. Vertical and horizontal space was created by pruning and selectively removing vegetation between native shrubs, reducing the continuity of fuel without removing more vegetation than necessary. Photograph by J. Lopez, Los Angeles County Fire Department.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 39 Pages from the SAFE Landscapes Southern California Guidebook to Sustainable and Fire-Safe Landscapes in the Urban Wildland Interface. Graphic design by V. Borel, UC Cooperative Extension. helped drive the creation of new INFORMATION DELIVERY round nature of the issue, by utiliz- building codes for WUI areas. These ing a calendar format we sought to were adopted by the State of Cali- One of the difficulties in educat- get the information off the pile of fornia in 2007 and apply to any new ing the public about fire safety is “should-read” desk material, and construction. For more information that people generally disregard the onto the kitchen wall where it could about making structures more resis- issue until a large fire occurs. Then be absorbed slowly. tant to wildfire, see the fire resistant there is a sudden surge of interest in With support from the National building page of our website, http:// the topic that wanes rapidly once Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the ucanr.org/safelandscapes. the emergency has passed. However, Renewable Resources Extension Act, Beyond the building, the major another good time to target home- the California Community Founda- principles to follow include think- owners is in the spring when they tion, the Los Angeles and San Gabriel ing about the defensibility of the receive fuel management notifica- Rivers Watershed Council, the Na- landscape—creating a space where tions from local fire agencies. At tional Park Service, and the Los firefighters can safely defend the UCCE we wanted to reinforce the Angeles and Ventura County Fire structure from wildfire. This in- idea that fire preparedness and land- Departments, in 2007 and 2008 volves making sure to achieve a ver- scape maintenance were year-round SAFE Landscapes Calendars were tical and/or horizontal separation tasks, so we decided to deliver that distributed to over 49,000 residents among plants so that a ground fire information in a calendar. in the wildland/urban interface cannot move upward into tree Each month’s page includes a areas of Los Angeles and Ventura crowns, becoming a high ember- brief discussion of relevant issues counties through direct mail and at producing fire. We advise home- regarding fire ecology and landscape events and workshops. Mail-in sur- owners to remove any dead plant preparedness, and highlights two or veys were included. material from roofs and anywhere it more invasive plant species to avoid. Of 241 survey respondents, 80% can collect, including keeping plants We also took advantage of the cal- found the calendar useful and 73% pruned and trimmed to remove endar format to include the start said the information was new to thatch build-up. We also advise the dates for major Southern California them. Also, 73% planned to save the use of proper irrigation to keep wildfires along with the number of calendar for future reference. Most plants healthy. A healthy plant is structures lost and acres burned. In importantly, 76% reported being usually a fire-resistant plant. addition to highlighting the year- more concerned about invasive

40 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 strategy, which tive vegetation as possible to pro- highlighted the vide habitat and protect slopes. Cre- need to control ating this space—by selectively re- invasive plants moving and pruning vegetation so and provided that there is space between indi- training to park vidual plants, rather than a con- maintenance tinuous, connected mass of vegeta- staff to recog- tion—means that fire cannot spread nize and treat as easily. infestations. The SAFE Landscapes program is only one of several statewide THE FUTURE projects led by the University of Cali- fornia Cooperative Extension and Our work so the Division of Agriculture and Natu- far has focused ral Resources. Similar projects that on the land- focus on different plant communi- scaped area ties are taking place on the coast within the first and mountains of Northern Califor- 100 feet of a nia, around Lake Tahoe, in San Di- home. Beyond ego, and in other areas. I encourage that, home- you to contact your local Coopera- owners often tive Extension office to find out look at the natu- more. rally vegetated plants after reading the calendar, area as a source of risk, rather than REFERENCES 81% said they had avoided buying see the benefits of natural plant com- invasive plants, 55% said they would munities. To solve it they may Bell, C.E., J. DiTomaso, and M. Brooks. change their landscape because of choose a “scorched earth” approach, 2006. Invasive Plants and Wildfires the calendar, and 51% specifically meaning that they remove every bit in Southern California. Brochure. said they were removing these inva- of vegetation, leaving just dirt. As University of California Cooperative Extension, http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/ sive species from their landscapes. more properties are developed at the files/filelibrary/1359/39103.pdf. In addition to the calendar, edge of wildlands, individual efforts Keeley J.E., C.J. Fotheringham, and M. UCCE created the SAFE Landscapes to manage fuels can result in signifi- Baer-Keeley. 2006a. Demographic website, http://ucanr.org/safeland cant loss of native habitat. The re- patterns of post-fire regeneration in scapes, and a SAFE Guidebook that moval of most or all of the vegeta- Mediterranean-climate shrublands contains similar information to the tion in these areas can leave dis- of California. Ecological Monographs calendar, but in a non-dated, non- turbed soils ripe for invasion by 76:235-255. year-specific format (so it can be used weedy species. Hence, the common Keeley J.E., et al., 2006b. A 21st century perspective on post-fire seeding. as an educational document for sev- practice of clearing all vegetation in Journal of Forestry 104:103-104. eral years). We also held workshops early spring can lead to a build-up Klinger, R.C., M.L. Brooks, and J.M. in both 2007 and 2008 to provide of invasive plants and fine fuels by Randall. 2006. Fire and invasive more comprehensive information to the time fire season arrives. The re- plant species. In Fire in California’s homeowners as well as to landscape placement of deep-rooted native Ecosystems, ed. Neil G. Sugihara et designers and architects. perennial vegetation by shallow- al., pp. 499-516. University of Cali- In addition, we participated in rooted weedy annuals can also cre- fornia Press, Berkeley, CA. numerous workshops and symposia ate an erosion hazard, with or with- Klinger, R.C., M.L. Brooks, and J.M. Randall. 2006. Fire and invasive of a more technical nature on fire out a wildfire occurring. plant species. In Fire in California’s ecology, fire preparation, and post- The next step we hope to take in Ecosystems, ed. Neil G. Sugihara et fire recovery in wildlands. We also expanding our program will be to al., pp. 499-516. University of Cali- provided extensive support to the train homeowners as well as vege- fornia Press, Berkeley, CA. City of Los Angeles following the tation management contractors in Griffith Park fire, an 800-acre blaze methods for a “light-touch” approach Sabrina L. Drill, UC Cooperative Exten- that affected a large portion of that to fuel reduction. This will focus sion, Los Angeles County, 4800 E. Cesar city park in May 2007. UCCE helped on creating vertical and horizontal Chavez Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90022, to develop the post-fire recovery space, while retaining as much na- [email protected]

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 41 THE ROLE OF FIRE SAFE COUNCILS IN CALIFORNIA by Yvonne Everett

n many wildland ecosystems, fire allows this expansion to continue, they carry out, and what Councils is a natural phenomenon that most of us still expect fire services see as their greatest challenges brings a redistribution of resources to fight fires in the WUI to protect (Everett and Fuller 2010). The study and renewal. Species such as lives and homes. indicated that Councils are very ICoulter pine (Pinus coulteri) depend But fighting wildland fire in the widespread, that they carry out a upon fire for their survival (Stuart WUI is complicated. Structures and range of critical activities, and that and Sawyer 2001). Yet fire is poten- unknown caches of explosive or they face similar challenges. tially hazardous and destroys valu- toxic household materials make fire The responding Councils were able resources. For many years the fighting very dangerous. When resi- located in 19 California counties, response was clear. Any wildland fire dents evacuate their homes in the from San Bernardino in the south to that could be put out was put out. face of wildfires, they block road Del Norte in the north. Most coun- Now, after over a century of often access for emergency response per- ties have one county-level Fire Safe successful fire suppression, over- sonnel. And despite their training, Council and often numerous com- whelming scientific evidence that fire skills, and resources, fire services munity-level Councils. San Diego helps to sustain ecosystem function are often overwhelmed by the scale County, for example, with nearly and biological diversity, as well as of wildfires in the WUI. For all these three million people, includes a skyrocketing suppression costs, are reasons, the single solution approach county-wide Fire Safe Council that convincing arguments for “let burn” of relying entirely on suppression serves as an umbrella for over 50 policies in wilderness areas. for fire management needs to be re- community Councils (Fire Safe However, the wilderness is no visited. Council of San Diego 2010). Often longer so far away. As the fingers of One response to the increased local representatives of state or fed- our housing developments extend threat of wildfire in the WUI has eral agencies have assisted in local into ever more ridges surrounding been the emergence of Fire Safe Council formation. expanding communities, we are Councils. These are locally-based Council membership is diverse reaching deeper into wildfire terri- groups of volunteers whose goal is and often includes members with tory. In 19 states, over 50% of homes to reduce wildfire hazards to com- significant skills and experience. The are now in this wildland-urban in- munities. Today, there are over 150 majority of community-level Coun- terface (WUI), led by California with Councils in California. Some are cils indicated having 8-20 regular 5,087,909 houses counted in the neighborhood homeowner groups; active members. Almost all indicated WUI in 2000 (Stewart et al. 2006). others are county level associations that most or all of their members are While some of us bemoan the lack of fire service professionals. There private landowners. Over half re- of local government planning that are rural councils focused on fuel ported volunteer fire department treatments and ur- members and or professional fire Members of the Trinity Fire Safe Council meet to work on ban groups special- service staff among their regulars. defining the wildland urban interface for their wildfire izing in public edu- Over half of the Councils reported protection plan. All photographs courtesy of the Trinity Fire cation. While some having active or retired federal, state, Safe Council unless otherwise noted. have paid staff, most and local government representa- are volunteer-led. tives as council members. Half of Councils carry out a the Councils include members from wide range of criti- community based non-governmen- cal fire preparedness tal organizations. Most of the Coun- activities that are be- cils reported that they commonly yond the capacity of collaborate with other organizations. fire services. Fire Safe Councils reported ac- A recent survey tivities in three general categories: of Fire Safe Councils public education and outreach; plan- in California focused ning for wildfire; and implementing on where Councils risk reduction activities. are located, what Councils reach many thousands types of activities of people with fire preparedness and

42 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 ABOVE: Bull Pine prescribed burn carried out by the Orleans-Somes Bar Fire Safe Council on private land in the Six Rivers National Forest. Photograph courtesy of the Orleans- Somes Bar Fire Safe Council • RIGHT: A number of homeowners along Highway 3 in Long Canyon teamed up with the Trinity County Fire Safe Council to reduce fuels around their homes and along their access road. After the rest of the neighbors saw what it looked like, they requested assistance with their defensible space too. safety brochures and newspaper in- and from state government (20%). serts, booths at county fairs, and Federal monies came largely through programs for local schools and the California Fire Safe Council, an neighborhood and community meet- incorporated nonprofit organiza- ings. Workshops and training days tion that helps to distribute federal on creating defensible space and agency grants (Fire Safe Council chipping fuels are common, often 2010). Additional federal dollars organized with agency partners such were distributed in counties with as CalFire. Some Councils also reach large proportions of federally man- protocol for community-based fire out to other Councils. For example, aged lands by Resource Advisory preparedness planning under the since 2003 the Northern California Committees, with funding provided Healthy Forest Restoration Act Councils have held four well-at- by Congress under the Secure Rural (2003). Communities prepare their tended gatherings for regional net- Schools and Community Self-Deter- plan in collaboration with agency working and peer training. mination Act of 2000. Most of this and local officials (Communities Planning and finding support money, $9,956,050, was used to Committee et al. 2004; Ganz et al. for their activities are major Coun- treat fuels, while $666,100 was used 2007). The plans usually identify cil activities. The 23 Councils who for public outreach. The remaining projects to reduce fuels, protect reported on funding had raised $2,324,700 went to Community structures, develop evacuation plans, $12,919,066 for their work over the Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) and the like. Communities with a last decade. The majority of funds preparation and other planning. completed CWPP proposal en- (63%) came from federal sources CWPP is a federally promoted dorsed by local government are

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 43 Shaded fuel break on federal land next to private parcel. This homeowner lost his fire insurance until the Fire Safe Council was able to get permission from the USFS to complete the thinning. more competitive for federal funds structures or along access roads. The fuels on their property—was a third administered through the Califor- Councils reported that at least 3,655 key issue. To many, fuel reduction nia Fire Safe Council’s Grant Clear- landowners were participants in is controversial. Some people sim- inghouse. All of the ten county-level these fuel reduction treatments. ply don’t want to bother to do the Councils reporting had either com- While Fire Safe Councils are re- work. Others are concerned about pleted CWPPs or were working to sponding to the increased threat of its environmental impact, such as complete one. Half of the 18 com- fire in the WUI, they also face sig- destabilizing slopes by removing munity-level Councils had also com- nificant challenges. The most widely native vegetation or of habitat loss pleted a CWPP. reported challenge was increasing caused by clearing. Fire Safe Councils reported di- and maintaining community aware- It seems clear that Fire Safe verse fire preparedness and response ness and participation in Council Councils in California are playing a projects, including emergency com- activities. Respondents struggled critical role in community-based fire munications, facilitation of emer- with how to generate and maintain management that complements fire gency response, home improvement, public interest in fire management service activities. It is to be hoped and fuel reduction. The specific ac- issues. In areas with many absentee that over time increased education, tivities carried out by a particular landowners, it has proven challeng- fire preparedness, and ecologically Council depend on local needs and ing to reach them and gain permis- appropriate fuel reduction activities capacity. The most emphasized ac- sion to treat their land. But for will enhance our ability to live with tivity was fuels treatment. Eliminat- projects that involve creating a fuel fire, even as we work to halt the ing fuels and access points for fire break for a neighborhood or along expansion of the WUI. on and around structures is widely an access road, contiguous proper- accepted as a critical factor in re- ties must be treated. Finding fund- ducing losses to wildfire (USDA ing, especially for fuel reduction REFERENCES 2007). At the time of the survey, 23 projects, operational expenses, and Communities Committee, National Councils reported having completed liability insurance, was the second Association of Counties, National fuel reduction work on 25,647 acres. ranked challenge for Fire Safe Coun- Association of State Foresters, Soci- Fuel reduction was largely on pri- cils. Fuel reduction—and especially ety of American Foresters, and the vate lands immediately adjacent to convincing landowners to reduce Western Governors’ Association.

44 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 2004. Preparing A Community Wild- COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCILS IN CALIFORNIA fire Protection Plan: A Handbook for Communities in the Wildland Urban here are over 150 local or “community-level” Fire Safe Councils in Interface. http://www.safnet.org/pub- T California and most have a link to a county fire safe council. County- lications/cwpp_oct08.pdfCalifornia level councils with websites active in 2010 are listed here. Fire Safe Council Annual Report. http://www.firesafecouncil.org/ Alameda Diablo Fire Safe, http://www.diablofiresafe.org/ about/schedminutereport.cfm. Alpine Fire Safe Council, http://www.alpinefiresafe.org/ Everett, Y. and M. Fuller. 2011. Fire Amador Fire Safe Council, http://www.amadorfiresafe.org/ Safe Councils in the Interface. Soci- Butte County Fire Safe Council, http://www.thenet411.net/ ety and Natural Resources. 0:1-15. Contra Costa Diablo Fire Safe Council, http://www.diablofiresafe.org/ http://www.informaworld.com/10. Fire Safe Council of El Dorado County, http://www.edcfiresafe.org/index.php 1080/08941920903313835 Humboldt County Fire Safe Council, http://co.humboldt.ca.us/planning/ Fire Safe Council of San Diego. Active fire_safe_council/fsc_default.asp Local Fire Safe Councils. http:// Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council, http://www.krvfiresafecouncil.org/ www.firesafesdcounty.org/localfscs. News.htm Lake South Lake Fire Safe Council, http://www.southlakefiresafecouncil. org/ html. about.htm Ganz, D., A. Troy, and D. Saah. 2007. Lassen County Fire Safe Council, http://www.lassenfiresafecouncil.org/ Community involvement in wildfire Eastern Madera County Fire Safe Council, http://www.maderafsc.org/html/ hazard mitigation and management: contact.htm (out of date) Community based fire management, Fire Safe Marin, http://www.firesafemarin.org/links.htm fire safe councils, and community Mariposa County Fire Safe Council, http://www.mariposafiresafe.org/ wildfire protection plans. In Living Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, http://firesafemendocino.org/ on the Edge: Economic, Institutional, Monterey Fire Safe Council, http://firesafemonterey.org/ and Management Perspectives on Napa Communities Firewise Foundation, http://www.napafirewise.org/ Wildfire Hazard in the Urban Inter- Fire Safe Council of Nevada County, http://www.firesafecouncilnevco.com/ face, eds. A. Troy and R. Kennedy, Orange County Greater Laguna Coast Fire Safe Council, http://www. pp. 143-164. Elsevier Ltd., New lagunacoastfiresafecouncil.org/ York, NY. Placer County Fire Alliance, http://www.placerfirealliance.org/ Stewart, S.I., V.C. Radeloff, and R.B. Plumas County Fire Safe Council, http://plumasfiresafe.org/ Hammer. 2006. The wildland-urban Riverside County—see Inland Empire Fire Alliance, http://www. interface in the United States. In The fireinformation.com/ Public and Wildland Fire Manage- Sacramento County Folsom Fire Safe Council, http://www.folsomfsc.org/ ment: Social Science Findings for Man- about.us/our.mission.php agers, ed. S.M. McCaffrey, pp. 197- San Benito County Fire Safe Council, http://www.sbfsc.org/ 202. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-1. U.S. San Bernardino County see Inland Empire Fire Alliance, http:// Department of Agriculture, Forest www.fireinformation.com/ Service, Northern Research Station, Fire Safe Council of San Diego County (37 councils), http:// Newtown Square, PA. www.firesafesdcounty.org/localfscs.html Stuart, J. and J. Sawyer. 2001. Trees and San Francisco Peninsula Fire Safe Council, http://www.rlinc.org/rlinc/ Shrubs of California. University of firesafe.html California Press, Berkeley, CA. San Luis Obispo County Fire Safe Council, http://www.fscslo.org/ U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest San Mateo Fire Safe, http://www.smcfiresafe.org/ Service Independent Large Wildfire Santa Clara Fire Safe Council, http://www.sccfiresafe.org/FAQs.htm Cost Panel. 2007. Towards a collabo- Santa Cruz Soquel Fire Safe Council, http://www.soquelfiresafe.org/ rative cost management strategy: aboutus.php U.S. Forest Service large wildfire cost Shasta County Fire Safe Council, http://www.westernshastarcd.org/scfsc.html review recommendations. A Report Sierra County Firesafe and Watershed Council, http://www.scfswc.com/ on 2006 Wildland Fires chartered by Fire Safe Council of Siskiyou County, http://www.firesafesiskiyou.org/Public/ the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. HomePage http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/publica- Trinity County Fire Safe Council, http://www.tcrcd.net/fsc/index.html tions/ilwc-panel/BR6988-1.pdf Tuolumne County Highway 108 Fire Safe Council, http://www. tuolumnefiresafe.org/ Yvonne Everett, Department of Environ- Ventura Ojai Valley Fire Safe Council, http://www.firesafeojai.org/ mental Science and Management, Yuba County Watershed Protection and Fire Safe Council, http://www. Humboldt State University, 1 Harpst co.yuba.ca.us/firesafe/default.htm Street, Arcata, CA 95521, everett@ humboldt.edu

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 45 FIRE-RESISTANT LANDSCAPING: A GENERAL APPROACH AND CENTRAL COAST PERSPECTIVE by Suzanne Schettler

hen planning a land- determined that the temperatures within. As the Basin Complex Fire scape in a rural-resi- had reached 3,000 degrees Fahren- in Big Sur approached a home in dential area, it is a natu- heit. I was shown a blob of melted 2008, the owners moved their im- ral impulse to consult aluminum, small enough to hold in portant possessions into a metal stor- aW list of fire-resistant plants and se- the palm of a hand, that was all that age container on the property before lect only those that are deemed fire- remained of an extension ladder. they evacuated. When they returned, safe. Consulting more than one list Some comparative temperatures the house was untouched but the can uncover a problem, however: may be of interest. Paper ignites at storage container held only ashes. lists contradict each other. For ex- about 451 degrees F, depending on Such incidents of internal ignition ample, our native yarrow (Achillea its composition. Lead melts at 400 to happen more often than we think. millefolium) shows up on some lists 600 degrees F, depending on its pu- as fire-resistant and on others as rity. Aluminum melts at about 1,600 WHAT WE CAN DO flammable. Other species show up degrees F, a blast furnace for making in contradictory fashion as well. steel runs at approximately 2,300 In spite of these formidable con- Most lists are a compilation of opin- degrees F, and a kiln for cement pro- ditions, we are not helpless. Second ions, guesses, informed guesses, and duction is fired at 3,000 degrees F. graders are taught the Fire Triangle other people’s guesses. There are no plants and no struc- (see page 18). The three sides of the tures that can withstand such heat. triangle are heat, oxygen, and fuel— At these temperatures, spontaneous take away any one of them and fire THE WILDFIRE combustion ignites a structure from cannot burn. There is little that can ENVIRONMENT Low-growing native plants minimize potential fire hazard immediately adjacent to this Some factors in the fire environ- home. Native irises (Iris spp. and hybrids), sea thrift (Armeria maritima), Phlox douglasii, ment are beyond human control, and low-growing manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp.) are featured. Horizontal separation between plants is illustrated by the walkway at the left and center, and vertical separation and are almost beyond comprehen- is illustrated at the right. However, as the vines growing up the house increase in size they sion. First, wildfires are extremely could become a fire hazard. The homeowners might want to replace them with low- unpredictable, burning some veg- growing plantings in large ornamental pots. Photograph by landscape architect R. Lutsko, etation while adjacent sites are left reprinted with permission of Pacific Horticulture. untouched. Second, the rapidly ris- ing column of hot air from a wildfire sucks in oxygen to feed the base of the fire, creating winds of tornado speeds. These high winds carry burning embers (firebrands) a mile or more, igniting spot fires in a leap- frog fashion and spreading the fire farther and faster than the actual flame front. Firebrands are not necessarily single burning coals; they can be a shower of small embers, resembling Fourth of July fireworks but not organized into pretty patterns. And third, because wildfires often occur during especially hot, dry, and windy weather conditions, the temperatures can be extremely high. After the Trabing Fire near Watsonville in 2008, investigators

46 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 be done to reduce the industrial temperatures described above. And oxygen cannot be cut off unless a fire is small and can be smothered. The one element we can control is fuel, and vegetation is fuel. We can control the vegetative fuel when we design a new landscape or retrofit an existing one.

HOW FLAMMABLE ARE NATIVE PLANTS?

Bert Wilson is a native plant Here interest is focused away from the house, which is casting a late-afternoon shadow nursery owner and former fire- across the patio and lawn. The perennial border creates a focal point viewed from the fighter. In September of 2005, near house, rather than framing the view toward the house. Bulky vegetation is farther back, the end of the dry season, he com- blurring the property line. All photographs by S. Schettler unless otherwise noted. pared the flammability of various plants. He placed a one-centimeter fore are more quickly heated through rounding a home can function as a flame of a propane torch in contact to an ignition temperature than are firebreak, comprising low vegetation with foliage of a clipped branch and larger leaves. Conversely, plants with or hardscape. This also becomes a recorded the time to ignition, re- larger, thicker leaves are slower to work area if firefighters are defend- peating several times per plant. Most ignite. Plants with resinous sap are ing a home and are lugging heavy of the native plants he tested were chemically more volatile than plants hoses to protect the structure. growing in the ground and were with watery sap. Conifers (except unwatered. He performed the ex- for redwoods) are generally fairly DESIGN FACTORS periment in a closed barn so breezes flammable. Species that accumulate would not influence the results. dry litter are a hazard. But even these Foundation plantings evolved What he found was not what he guidelines are relatively minor fac- when it was considered unsanitary expected. The results were not con- tors in reducing flammability. for the first floor of a house to sit sistent, either within genus or spe- close to the ground and plants were cies, or with the literature. The more SEPARATION IS THE KEY needed to camouflage a tall founda- drought-tolerant the plant, the longer tion. Thomas Church and other land- it took to ignite. And unwatered na- The question is not “Is a particu- scape architects began moving away tives fared better than watered non- lar species fire-resistant?” What re- from this approach in the mid-1900s. natives; a watered apple and a wa- ally makes a landscape fire-resistant Rather than using plants to frame tered common lilac burned faster is not the species that are planted the view of the house from the street, than many manzanitas. Manzanitas but the three-dimensional geometry they placed the plantings where they as a group were quite variable, and of their placement and the kind of can be enjoyed looking outward from watered samples were not necessar- care they receive. The spaces between the house and patio. This removes ily slower to ignite than unwatered plants, and the space between veg- the bulk of the vegetation (fuel) from ones. Ceanothus species were rela- etation and a structure, are of great near the house, literally turning the tively hard to burn; a light dust-off importance. There should be hori- design inside-out and creating fire by overhead watering every two zontal and vertical gaps in the veg- resistance at the same time. For fire weeks made them really hard to burn. etation. The individual plants should resistance, it is important to gradu- have elbow room, not just when they ate the vegetation, with least volume SOME GENERALIZATIONS are initially planted but when they near the structure. are full-grown. It may be useful to In a fire-resistant landscape, a In spite of the fallibility of lists of consult a knowledgeable horticul- traditional perennial border is not “fire-resistant” or “fire-prone” plants, turist in advance to identify the ma- located at the foundation of the there are some general guidelines ture size of plants in a given soil type house, but is set at a little distance that do relate to species selection. and climate. And bulky vegetation where it invites exploration. This Plants with fine foliage have a high should be positioned away from concept translates readily to our surface-to-volume ratio and there- structures. The area immediately sur- Mediterranean climate.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 47 Islands are a good way to create separation in the vegetative fuel. They THERE IS NO SUCH can either form the framework for THING AS A FIRE-PROOF the layout of a new landscape or can PLANT… be retrofitted by cutting broad trails through existing vegetation such as Iceplant (Carpobrotus edulis) burned chaparral, breaking it up into dis- in the Trabing Fire in 2008. Photograph by R. Casale, NRCS. continuous patches. Human-scale islands of mounded vegetation visu- …OR A FIRE-PROOF STRUCTURE. ally remind us of natural topography in the larger landscape, so that one has the experience of being immersed in the landscape rather than merely walking over it. Since fire climbs upward, it is important to eliminate fire ladders. A fire ladder exists when there is continuous or nearly continuous vegetation extending from the ground up to the tree canopy. Care in the placement of shrubs, and maintaining substantial vertical gaps between shrubs and trees, can prevent the development of fire ladders. Steep slopes are particularly vulnerable to fire, as fire low on the slope preheats vegetation higher up. Terracing a steep slope makes the site more useable, allows rainfall to (Before): Mike Evans, co-owner of Tree of Life native plant nursery in Southern California, built this cabin over the course of three years. The cabin was carefully soak in rather than run off, and re- designed for fire safety, there was 100' clearance to mineral soil in all directions, duces the intensity of a potential and the forest understory was cleared for hundreds of yards all around. Both fire. A tree or shrub burning low on photographs by M. Evans. the slope cannot readily ignite a plant higher up if the slope is broken by level areas. Homeowners in forested settings are being increasingly encouraged by Cal Fire and local fire agencies to reduce hazardous vegetation and create defensible space (see sidebar). This is accomplished through a combination of methods. Dense trees can be thinned to feature the most attractive and well-spaced specimens. In a mixed evergreen forest, understory shrubs and ferns that remain after some trees are removed can provide the basis for a new garden. Trees that are retained should have their lower branches removed to eliminate fire ladders; the remain- (After): The Cedar Fire of 2003 burned so hot that the structure fire started on ing foliage should be at least high the inside: a piece of furniture, a pillow, a towel, the tablecloth (who knows?) enough to walk under. Shrubs can ignited, perhaps spontaneously. likewise be “limbed up” and selectively pruned to showcase beautiful

48 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 trunks while reducing fuel and creating separation from the ground- DEFENSIBLE SPACE level vegetation. y law in California, 100 feet of defensible space is required around B homes and other structures. This creates a safe working area for HORTICULTURAL firefighters to protect structures. PRACTICES First 30 feet: “Lean, Clean, and Green” Aside from the three-dimen- Vegetation must be very low in volume and density. This does not sional geometry of the planting, the translate to a barren moonscape, but it does mean low groundcovers single most effective fire-resistant and/or hardscape are dominant. measure is to perform horticultural Next 70 feet (or to the property line if closer): maintenance on a regular basis: groom, dead-head, prune, rake, tidy “Reduced Fuel Zone” up. Fire ladders that have been ini- Create horizontal and vertical spacing between plants. The amount of tially eliminated may need to be space will depend on how steep the slope is and the size of the plants. maintained by periodically reopen- ing the vertical gaps as plants grow. In Santa Cruz County, islands of low vegetation less than waist high Mulch conserves moisture and may be scattered in the Reduced Fuel Zone for aesthetic and wildlife suppresses weeds, but wood chips values. Some examples for different areas are listed below: or bark should not be deeper than For Sun 3-6" in order to limit flame lengths. In the event a firebrand lands on it manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp., low-growing forms) and smolders, the mulch should be coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis) kept a few feet away from structures ceanothus (Ceanothus spp., low-growing forms) so it can’t carry a creeping fire to a sedges (Carex spp.) building. buckwheats (Eriogonum spp., low-growing varieties) Irrigation can sustain moisture irises (Iris spp. and hybrids) content in the vegetation through sages (Salvia spp.) the dry season, making it slower to For Part Shade ignite. There is a delicate balance, however. The life of drought-toler- huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) ant trees and shrubs is shortened if irises (Iris spp. and hybrids) irrigation stimulates year-round snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) growth and the plants do not have a California blackberry (Rubus ursinus) natural annual dormancy during the alum root (Heuchera spp.) dry season. The best basic irrigation For Shade regime is to mimic a good, long rainy season. Watering can start about western bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) October 1, be discontinued once rains western sword fern (Polystichum munitum) begin, resumed again when the rains end, and then tapered off during May. Most shrubs of the chaparral monkeyflowers (the woodier Mimu- versatile than many natives. They have a deep taproot but also have lus species) can be used as indicator are on some fire-resistant plant lists, branch roots near the ground sur- plants; when they start to look dry but Bert Wilson’s experiment found face to collect water from showers and wilted, other plants in similar that when they are dry and dormant that wet only the upper soil layers. conditions will benefit from a light they ignite readily. If supplemental watering is desired watering. The monkeyflowers are an during summer, it should be infre- exception to the requirement for CONCLUSION quent and light. Here again, nature summer dormancy and can even be is the model. In the Central Coast kept in nearly continuous bloom if One way to think about fire- region of California, natural rainfall they are cut back halfway after bloom resistance is to landscape as if you in summer is rare and light. and then watered. Bush monkey- have a view: keep plenty of space Some plants can provide cues for flowers are usually deer-proof and open so you don’t block the view. If the timing of summer watering. Bush fully drought-tolerant, and are more you don’t have a view, make one by

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 49 placing a garden structure or featured plant where it creates a focal point away from the house. Another way to think about fire-resistance it to picture a chess game after the game is halfway played and the remaining pieces are widely scattered across the board. There may be a cluster or two, but there are broad open spaces as well. There are other considerations that contribute to fire-resistance in a landscape, but the two most important ones are plant geometry and horticultural practices. Although there can be no guarantees in the event of a wildfire, effective design and horticultural practices can dramatically shift the odds in one’s favor. There are many ways to accom- plish a balance of defensibility, aes- thetics, and ecological value. Three similar properties on a given hill- side may achieve all these goals in three different ways.

REFERENCES Cal Fire. 2009. Living with fire in Santa Cruz County. Contains detailed recommendations for separation distances between trees and shrubs on slopes and other useful information. Church, T. 1983. Gardens are for People, 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill Book Com- pany, San Francisco, CA. Dawson, J. and R. Lucas. 2005. The Nature of Plants: Habitats, Challenges, and Adaptations. Timber Press, Port- land, OR. Fire Safe San Mateo County. 2010. Liv- ing With Fire in San Mateo County. Different counties have similar but not identical guidelines. Santa Clara County FireSafe Council. 2009. Living With Fire in Santa Clara County. Similar to the Santa Cruz County version. TOP: A combination of thinning and limbing up creates a shaded fuel break, reducing the Wilson, B. 2005. Leaf burn times of intensity and speed of a potential fire. This is a sensitive way to handle rare shrubs such California native plants. http://www. as silver-leaf manzanita (Arctostaphylos silvicola). To prevent erosion, the ground has laspilitas.com/classes/fire_burn_ not been scalped (cleared to bare soil). • MIDDLE: Island plantings are a good way to create times.html (accessed November 1, separation in the vegetative fuel surrounding homes. Their presence reduces the spread 2008). of wildfire, while adding focal interest to the landscape. Here, a small island planting is located between two larger islands in the salvia garden at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. More island plantings can be seen by zooming in to the Google Earth view of the Suzanne Schettler, P.O. Box 277, Ben UCSC Arboretum. • BOTTOM: Where space is available, a perimeter orchard of dwarf fruit Lomond, CA 95005, seschettler@gmail. trees can create a fuel break. com

50 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 WILDFIRE SAFETY: LESSONS LEARNED FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA by Greg Rubin

he great San Diego wildfires of 2003 and 2007 have taught us a number of lessons, and surprisingly, much of the conventionalT wisdom is flying out the window. The truth is that none of our landscaping clients lost their homes despite being surrounded by native plants, despite being in the middle of these firestorms, and despite having neighbors with conven- tional landscapes whose homes burned to the ground. While there are many who still believe that if you plant native shrubs near your home, they will spontaneously combust and burn down your house, the reality is quite the opposite.

SAFETY IN NATIVES So what is it about native landscapes that can lead to such fire resistance? One thing that contributes to it is to hydrate the plants with overhead irrigation throughout the warm months, from roughly early June to mid-October. The ABOVE: During the Witch Fire of 2007 a non- amount of moisture delivered can native rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) on be slight—approximately a quarter the left was incinerated next to a volunteer inch of precipitation per watering. flat-top buckwheat (Eriogonum fascicu- That equates to about 40 minutes latum), which, though scalded, survived. Both were receiving twice monthly irriga- on a rotator type system. The wa- tion. Clearly this was enough hydration to tering interval on an established ensure low combustibility in the native landscape is once every 10-14 days, buckwheat but inadequate for the non- depending on location and expo- native rosemary. RIGHT: Green leaves are sure. Steep inland slopes may be still evident on the Eriogonum fasciculatum (foreground) if you look closely, while all watered as frequently as every 7-10 that remains of the Rosmarinus officinalis is days, again depending on exposure. a black smudge (background). All photo- Each watering is about equivalent graphs by the author. to a summer thunderstorm or fog drip—well within the tolerance Native leaves are able to absorb range of most natives. The goal is to the overhead moisture, and it ap- “dust off” the leaves (dust can actu- pears that they hang on to that mois- ally become a problem on such ture even in the face of flames. Other drought tolerant landscapes!), wet plants surely exhibit these proper- the mulch, but not saturate hot soil. ties; however, it typically requires This helps avoid pathogen problems. much less water to hydrate a native

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 51 plant than an exotic. Ironically, it is often the plants that we think of as highly combustible that end up benefitting the most from this supplemental watering. In fact, it seems that fire resistance in natives has less to do with plant selection than with hydration. An interesting study was conducted by Bert Wilson of Las Pilitas Nurs- ery (www.laspilitas.com) where he examined the relative ignition times of various native and non- native plants when exposed to a propane torch. He also noted whether they were hydrated or not. Al- though not a scientifically controlled study, it is fairly unique and useful as a relative measure. Some plants that would ignite in 15 sec- onds took over a minute to do so once hydrated. Many of the ignition times for natives were far in excess of those for non-na-

TOP: A home that survived both the 2003 and 2007 San Diego fires. The house is surrounded completely by an 8-foot-wide decomposed granite apron. The plantings immediately outside this zone and for the first 30 feet are hydrated, low-growing, and well-spaced. BOTTOM: The same house, with the first 30 feet of well-watered plantings hidden behind a low rock wall. Outside of that perimeter are planted native groundcovers that are being irrigated about every 10 days in summer. Note also that in this particular case, a road (in the foreground) was constructed around the house approximately 100 feet away. This “country lane” actually doubles as a fire-break, which gives firefighters easy access. Note also the use of metal roof- ing to prevent embers from igniting the structure.

52 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 tives. It should be noted that Bert ZONING AND DEFENSIBLE cutting the shrubs to the ground, was also a volunteer firefighter for SPACE but not removing by the roots. This San Luis Obispo County for 14 years. prevents further erosion and soil It is critical that firefighters have disturbance that will bring up even an area or zone around a house more weeds. Chamise (Adenostoma CLEARING VS. THINNING where they can safely fight a fire. fasciculatum), laurel sumac (Malos- This is what is known as “defensible ma laurina) growing near the house, In the panic that followed our space.” The first 30 feet is probably and maybe some buckwheat (Erio- great San Diego firestorm of October the most critical. This is where a gonum fasciculatum) and sage (Salvia 2003, many agencies and insurance passing fire crew quickly assesses spp.) are targeted first for thinning. carriers required that surrounding whether it is safe to stop and set up a Plants like manzanita (Arctostaphy- property be cleared 100, 200, even perimeter or move on. This first zone los spp.), California lilac (Ceanothus 300 feet or more. This resulted in is where you want to have a consid- spp.), hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ili- environmental devastation of huge erable amount of hardscape—flag- cifolia), lemonadeberry (Rhus inte- swaths of land, horrible erosion prob- stone, boulders, pavers, cement, grifolia), and bush rue (Cneoridium lems, and the establishment of non- gravel, etc. Plants should be either dumosum) are usually preserved, native grasses and weeds that be- lower growing or come flashy fuels by the following have an open “see- These two photos depict the before and after condition of a August. Worse still, many homes through” structure stand of chaparral that has been thinned to roughly 50% canopy whose surrounding landscape had so as to limit poten- coverage. Debris has been chipped and replaced on site as a mulch to help prevent weed germination in the open areas. been cleared to bare mineral soil for tial fuel for a fire. This area is now much more fire-resistant without resorting to hundreds of feet still burned to the They should be hy- clearing it entirely of native vegetation. ground, sometimes surrounded by drated with once- green lawn and palm trees. This cer- per-week watering. tainly ran counter to the conven- Many native peren- tional wisdom that wholesale re- nials and low-grow- moval of vegetation (considered fuel ing shrubs would for any fire) would prevent this kind fit the bill here. Try of thing from happening. to avoid planting As a former aerospace engineer, directly under the it also occurred to me that clearing eaves, beginning all vegetation around a home actu- plantings three to ally created the perfect conditions four feet out from for the high winds that accompany them. large fires to flow unperturbed Zone 2 is the (laminar flow). There was no longer area that is 30 to 100 any barrier to create turbulence or feet from your interference and slow down the 80 house. (This may mph bone-dry winds laden with extend up to 300 cinders as thick as the fire falls of feet if your house is Yosemite. Nothing, that is, except located on a ridge the houses. As chaparral ecologist or at the end of a Richard Halsey explains it, “You north- or east-facing have created the perfect bowling al- box canyon. If there ley for embers.” On the other hand, is existing chaparral low-growing, hydrated ground- growing in Zone 2, covers and shrubs can disturb and thin it by about cool the otherwise uninterrupted 50%, because this flow of fire. Allowing thinned natu- actually removes ral vegetation to remain, in addi- about 70% of the tion to landscape plantings that are fuel volume. Clear irrigated, may in fact help prevent cutting or bulldoz- structures from igniting. This brings ing only creates us to the subject of fire zones and more problems. defensible space. Thinning implies

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 53 makes nutrition available to the invasives. The process of removing 50% of the existing canopy (thinning the chaparral), although not as invasive as wholesale clear- cutting or removal, is still a type of disturbance that allows for infec- tion by weeds, much like an open wound. If left to their own devices, weeds will severely Once impenetrable chaparral in Zone 2 (30-100 feet from this person’s home) has been transformed into a fire- compromise the resistant native “private park” through vegetation thinning, paths, a bench, a bridge, a bird bath, and the ecology of native addition of some non-woody native perennials. plant communities by robbing mois- although dead wood should be re- weeds are typically annuals and pe- ture and nutrition from the system. moved. rennials that are dead or dormant Worse, they act as fire ladders into It is advisable to open up their by August. They tend to be rich in the remaining native shrubs and structure when possible by pruning “lignin” which means their dry, dead trees that are now weakened and lower branches. All trimmings carcasses sit on top of the soil, hav- even more fire prone. This is the should be mulched and then placed ing robbed the system of nutrients worst of all possible situations—an back on the areas that have now and moisture. Compare this to wild- unhealthy plant community de- been thinned out, to help suppress flowers, which usually get reab- pleted of its moisture and full of the weeds. This is also an opportunity sorbed into the soil after they die, driest tinder so that the vegetation to lace the area with four-to-five- so that by summer there is little can easily combust. The fact that foot-wide paths that double as fire- evidence of the previous spring’s annual weeds are dead and dry by breaks and which further open up show. Unlike native chaparral that the end of summer is what leads to the vegetation. One can bring in tolerates intense but infrequent fires, desertification (land degradation to benches, bird baths, non-woody pe- non-native weeds welcome and pro- desert-like conditions due to cli- rennials, signage, and other features mote frequent burning. It is there- matic changes and/or destructive to transform once impenetrable fore essential that they be controlled land-use practices). Humidity lev- chaparral into an inviting, mature and removed. els actually drop in these weedy native landscape. The environment Most native plant communities, areas because none of the moisture does not have to be destroyed in the by virtue of their specialized and is being held onto in living tissue. name of fire safety. There are many finely adapted ecology, do not sup- Unfortunately, this describes much creative, aesthetic landscaping “so- port the growth of non-native an- of what is happening in California. lutions” that lower the risk of fire nual weeds when in a healthy and Controlling annual weeds can be danger. undisturbed condition. This is be- a challenge. Certainly using mulched cause the litter layer (mulch) that tree trimmings helps. Hand pulling forms kills most weeds. In addition, may be enough when the amount of MAINTENANCE most of the native plant community’s weeds makes it practical. However, CONSIDERATIONS nutrition is held in the mycorrhizal with a typical seed bank of 10,000 to fungi and is not made available to 100,000 seeds per cubic foot, post Good site maintenance is of the weeds (which are usually non- and/or pre-emergent chemical treat- paramount importance when it mycorrhizal). Disturbing the plant ment may be required. Whatever comes to fire safety. Non-native community opens up the canopy and method is chosen, it is essential that

54 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 the site be maintained as weed- week. This ensures that the plant- or less to prevent creating a large free as possible once it has been ings are always hydrated and less fuel mass. There should be about opened up. likely to burn. There should be lots 10 feet between these small groups Another important maintenance of hardscape (flagstone, interlock- of larger shrubs. It is also a good step is continuing to keep the canopy ing pavers, decomposed granite, idea to create small firebreaks by coverage pruned to around 50%. gravel, etc.), including an apron of incorporating lots of trails in this Whenever possible, trees should be these same materials that extends area that are at least four feet wide. pruned up from their base six feet. beyond the eaves line. There are a Fully established Zone 2 plantings Lower perennials and shrubs should number of native plants that will must be irrigated about once every be kept pruned to a height of about both tolerate this frequent watering 8-14 days during the warm months 18” when practical. A good rule of and provide low fuel volume. Some with overhead irrigation in order to thumb is to provide clearance be- attractive evergreen shrubs meeting promote adequate hydration. The tween tree limbs and groundcover these requirements include lower- possibility of lightly irrigating ex- (shrubs, perennials) that is a mini- growing manzanitas like Arctosta- isting chaparral in Zone 2 (wetting mum of three times the height of phylos ‘Carmel Sur,’ ‘Radiant,’ ‘Em- leaves and mulch, but not to the the lower plants. All dead wood erald Carpet,’ and ‘Pacific Mist,’ as saturation point) is being investi- needs to be removed. In addition, well as medium-height manzanitas gated by the author. most of the plants that have been like ‘Sunset’ and ‘Howard McMinn.’ cut to the ground (like chamise) Lower-growing, garden-tolerant CONCLUSION will regenerate from basal burls. wild lilacs would include Ceanothus While they can be allowed to grow thyrsiflorus repens, and Ceanothus Fire in Southern California is an for up to one year, they will have to gloriosus ‘Heart’s Desire’ and ‘An- unfortunate inevitability; however, be cut to the ground again once chor Bay’. Native perennials that homeowners can create defensible their newer green growth starts to could tolerate these conditions space around their homes that avoids become woody. would include seaside daisy (Eri- wholesale environmental destruc- If Zone 2 (30 to 100 feet from geron glaucus ‘WR’), Mattole River tion. Proper hydration of landscape the house) is devoid of naturally fuchsia (Zauschneria [Epilobium] plants is critical. Utilizing a large occurring vegetation and is instead septentrionalis), and goldenrod (Sol- proportion of hardscape within the planted in irrigated natives, the idago spp.). Monkeyflower (Mimulus first 30 feet of structures, along with maintenance should be fairly aurantiacus) may be shorter-lived plants that are low-growing, con- straightforward. The plants should under these conditions but will certain a low fuel volume, and are regu- mostly be lower-growing (under tainly put on a show for the two to larly irrigated is recommended. Be- 18”) and spaced for final size. This five years it survives (just get a new yond this first zone, lightly watered prevents plants growing on top of one when it dies). Decorative 6-12" native plantings or chaparral thin- each other and forming a woody boulders placed on the rootballs of ning is a good practice, especially thatch. Shredded redwood bark (go- the plants surrounded by gorilla hair when considering that it typically rilla hair) that has been matted down can be used for mulch, but the bark takes much less water to hydrate with water so that it is poorly aer- must be watered down to consoli- native plants than exotics. This, in ated is the mulch of choice and is date it immediately after planting. combination with good site mainte- usually quite effective at control- Zone 2 ideally consists of either nance, should help keep homes de- ling annual weeds, especially when thinned chaparral or lightly hy- fensible during fires. combined with hand weeding, or drated native plantings. Coyote with pre-emergents in large, hard brush ( ‘Pigeon Point’), Baccharis REFERENCES to maintain areas where hand pull- California lilac (Ceanothus ‘Yankee ing simply isn’t practical. The next Point’), manzanita (Arctostaphylos Halsey, R.W. 2008. Fire, Chaparral, and section details plant selection and ‘John Dourley’), and San Diego Survival in Southern California, 2d ed. protocols for a firewise native land- marsh elder (Iva hayesiana) are all Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA. scape. excellent choices if this area is to be Wilson, B. 2011. A Manual of Cali- planted. A smattering of larger fornia Native Plants, http://www. shrubs, such as Ceanothus ‘Blue laspilitas.com/cat1.htm. (accessed FIREWISE PLANNING AND Jeans’ and ‘Concha,’ coffeeberry March 31, 2011). PLANTING (Rhamnus ‘Eve Case’ and ‘Mount San Bruno’), and toyon (Heteromeles Greg Rubin, 25950 Los Arboles Ranch Zone 1 must be irrigated, ideally arbutifolia) are all fine as long as Road, Escondido, CA 92026, greg@ with overhead irrigation once a they are situated in groups of three calowndesign.com, www.calown.com

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 55 THE MENDOCINO COUNTY FIRE SAFE COUNCIL by Julie Rogers

t was the spring of 2003. Due to Chiefs’ Association told Soon I learned that many budget constraints, the California the State Board of Forestry of our residents were pet- Department of Forestry and Fire that, without aircraft, his rified by fear of wildfires. Protection (Cal Fire) had decided ability to fight wildfires in Their homes were on steep, Ito close the Ukiah Air Attack Base, Mendocino County would wooded hillsides far from responsible for fighting wildfires in be severely hampered. The fire stations. They counted Mendocino County and beyond. The Board listened, and soon funding for on aircraft to be there quickly to pro- residents of our rural county were the Base was restored. tect them. What would happen if the not pleased, and the fight was on. Long a fan of our fire-fighting planes were gone? Colin Wilson was the perfect per- planes, I joined the cause, and so was Listening to such stories, I was son to represent our county’s cause. introduced to the wide, wide world struck by the helplessness they con- Imposing, articulate, and persuasive, of wildland fire and its impacts on veyed. Then a town dweller myself, the president of our County Fire people, homes, and the environment. I wondered why people moved into

ABOVE AND LEFT: Research shows that small embers entering attic vents are the most common cause of home destruction in wildfires. Above photograph by D. Koski. Left photograph by P. Armstrong. • BELOW: The widespread destruction caused by the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County motivated fire chief Colin Wilson to found the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. This was the largest wildfire in California history, tragically killing 15 persons, burning 2,227 homes, and consuming 280,000 acres of wildlands and suburbs in San Diego County. Photograph by D. Koski.

56 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 GUIDELINES FOR A FIRE-SAFE HOME

A pictorial summary of key preventative measures homeowners living in the wildland-urban interface can take to minimize destruction from wildfires. Diagram taken from ANR publication #8392, Home Survival in Wildfire-Prone Areas; Building Materials and Design Considerations, http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu/Items/8393.aspx, ©2010 Regents of the University of California. Used by permission. remote areas if they weren’t prepared with enthusiasm and support, and also—or instead—to become Fire- to face the risks. Shouldn’t they take the Mendocino County Fire Safe wise Communities. The Firewise some responsibility for themselves? Council (MCFSC) was born (www. program, sponsored by the National I asked Chief Wilson, “Does our firesafemendocino.org). Fire Protection Association, provides county have a grassroots effort to Just what is a Fire Safe Council? incentives for communities to con- prepare for wildfires?” His response: It is a group of persons concerned tinue improving their wildfire pre- “No, but I wish we did.” We agreed about wildfire safety in their local paredness year after year (see www. to stay in touch. area and working to improve it. firewise.org). We are now incorpo- At a workshop that winter we The group can be whatever size, rating this excellent program into first heard of “Fire Safe Councils.” form, and scope the local needs re- our outreach activities. These groups were accomplishing quire. The MCFSC serves an entire Our Fire Safe Council is equipped great things, and their model seemed county, but in many areas a re- to apply for, receive, and manage right for our county. So our effort gional, watershed, or community funding available to groups like ours. began. In January 2004, 90 people boundary is more practical. Ours is To date we have secured nearly attended our first public meeting. an autonomous nonprofit corpora- $800,000 for wildfire preparedness Chief Wilson, who had just returned tion, but in other places Fire Safe projects. We produced our county’s from a deadly fire “down south,” Councils are affiliated with county Community Wildfire Protection Plan showed slides of daylight turning to governments, Resource Conserva- (CWPP) in 2005, and have created darkness as communities were en- tion Districts, other nonprofits, and two editions of a non-technical, easy- gulfed by smoke and flames. He ex- fire agencies, or are completely in- to-read publication called “Living pressed a vision of people prepared dependent with no affiliation or for- with Wildfire in Mendocino County” to meet all the challenges wildfires mal structure at all. (http://firesafemendocino.org/pdf/ might bring. Attendees responded Some small groups have chosen index.html).

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 57 to make their houses resistant to air- RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION borne burning embers produced by wildfires, as these are the top cause Fire Safe Councils. This article includes a section on starting a Fire of home destruction from wildfires. Safe Council, and an updated list of existing Fire Safe Councils. Cohen says that “little things” like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_safe_councils litter on roofs or decks and in rain gutters, plants in wooden planters, Firewise, a national program promoting homes that are not only jute doormats, brooms, and lawn fur- “defensible” but also “survivable” without firefighters’ interven- niture cushions are often what ig- tion, http: //www.firewise.org and http://firewise.org/usa/index.htm nite first from embers. U.C. Coop- erative Extension researcher Steve U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Fire Research and Outreach, http:// Quarles has found that burning em- firecenter.berkeley.edu bers frequently invade attics and under-deck spaces; he recommends Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, includes several publications covering all such openings with written by the Council, as well as links to other resources, www. metal mesh of 1/8" or less. Both re- firesafemendocino.org searchers have found that little embers blowing inside attics are the CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, major culprits in homes being lost formerly called CDF), http://www.fire.ca.gov and http://www.fire.ca. to wildfires. They also warn home- gov/fire_prevention/fire_prevention_wildland.php owners to replace wood shake roofs with fire-resistant ones, as shake Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology, which strives to roofs—and the homes they cover— balance fighting fires with the environment’s needs: www.fusee.org almost never survive wildfires. “How to Plant Weed Wise and Fire Safe: A Guide to Keeping Inland Armed with knowledge, people in our county are deciding what they Mendocino County Safe and Beautiful,” http://www.firesafe will do when a wildfire approaches. mendocino.org/pdf/FireSafe%20Landscaping.pdf Will they be able to evacuate safely? If not, what are their alternatives? They may need to go to a safety But the rubber truly meets the neighborhood that hinder its safe- zone—a large outdoor area previ- road at the local level. Seven years ty and emergency response efforts. ously cleared of flammable items— into our work, a dozen local fire Exactly what are they doing? or to a home that has been espe- safe groups have formed. Each is Moving flammable materials away cially well prepared, as described addressing situations in its own road from homes, reducing brush along above. In addition, a few able- association, subdivision, ranch, or narrow roads, creating accurate bodied, well-trained, and properly maps for firefighters equipped persons may plan to stay This house is burning, even though surrounding vegetation and medics, posting re- in the area to put out little fires is not, suggesting that it was ignited by embers and not by flective road and ad- before they become big ones, know- nearby trees. Photograph by D. Koski. dress number signs, ing that smoldering embers can starting phone trees, cause homes to ignite up to eight and making their home hours after the fire front has passed. water supplies acces- Overall, and most important, neigh- sible for fire-fighting. bors are meeting neighbors, sharing (An excellent four-page resources, and working together for pamphlet, “Developing their common safety. Home Water Supplies What is the relationship be- for Fire Protection” is tween our county-wide council and available at http://fire local ones? It is one of support. The safemendocino.org/pdf/ MCFSC does not tell local groups watersupply.pdf.) how to organize or what to do. We Crucially, they are do not require them to elect offic- also heeding the advice ers or keep meeting minutes. In of U.S. Forest Service fact, we strive to spare them from researcher Jack Cohen administrative tasks so they can

58 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 focus on resolving their on-the- 4) Fear of liability has ground needs. We provide sugges- nearly eliminated tions, education, networking, re- the beneficial prac- sources, and assistance as requested, tice of prescribed knowing that each group has its fire (controlled own values, concerns, and abilities. burns conducted If a group’s needs exceed their under strictly lim- means—as, for example, if their ited conditions). roads are overgrown and their resi- 5) Many wildland dents frail—we seek assistance on residents do not their behalf. We apply for funding understand true and administer the project when forest health, but funding arrives. consider thick for- How do local groups begin? Most ests with heavy often, one or two persons contact underbrush to be us, worried about their neigh- “natural,” although borhood’s overgrown brush. We historically they offer to attend a road association are not. meeting, social event, or informal Researcher Jack roadside gathering to explain our Cohen maintains that work. Usually a few persons step today’s wildfire “di- forward to lead. They want to meet sasters”—fires in again and involve more people. An- which many homes other date is set, and a local fire safe burn—are primarily group is born. the result of a “fire Over the years, the Mendocino exclusion paradigm,” County Fire Safe Council’s perspec- the longstanding tive on wildfires has dramatically American attitude Air tankers offer invaluable assistance to firefighters on the changed. When we first began, I that fire is always bad ground, but the fire retardant they carry must be delivered viewed fire as only an enemy to be and must be stopped. carefully due to its detrimental impacts on waterways. Photo- fought and feared, an invader that But wildland fire can graph by P. Armstrong. threatened to destroy everything in be our friend, and this its path. Now I know that wildland is precisely what the MCFSC now REFERENCES fire is an integral natural process in teaches. We explain that if we un- the California landscape and that derstand how fire behaves, accept Cohen, J. The wildland-urban interface we humans have in fact invaded its the risks of living in wildland envi- fire problem: A consequence of the fire exclusion paradigm. Forest His- turf! Following are some insights I ronments (often referred to as the tory Today, Fall 2008, http://www. have gained: wildland-urban interface or WUI), foresthistory.org/publications/FHT/ and prepare ourselves and our FHTFall2008/Cohen.pdf 1) Many homes have been built in homes to survive, we can truly “live Quarles, S.L. 2010. Home survival in locations where fires historically with wildfire.” wildfire-prone areas: Building mate- burned lightly and frequently Whatever their size, form, or rials and design considerations, across the landscape, reducing approach, Fire Safe Councils, Fire- https://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/ flammable vegetation and bene- wise Communities, and similar 8393.pdf fiting local flora and fauna. groups are gradually improving Cali- Stephens, S.L. et al. 2009. Urban- 2) In an effort to protect those poorly fornians’ ability to survive and thrive wildland fires: How California and placed homes, wildland fires have in wildland areas. Is there a Fire Safe other regions of the US can learn been so vigorously suppressed that Council in your area? If so, join it. If from Australia. Environmental Re- the ecosystems are disturbed and not, help start one, or look into be- search Letters 4:1 014010, http:// the vegetation overgrown. coming a Firewise Community. iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/4/1/ 3) Most fire agencies view all wild- Together we can greatly reduce 014010/pdf/1748-9326_4_1_ land fires as enemies to be at- the damage that wildfires cause to 014010.pdf tacked rather than potential part- homes in fire-prone areas and can ners in maintaining healthy eco- move toward restoring our ecosys- Julie Rogers, 151 Laws Avenue #B, Ukiah, systems. tems to good health. CA 95482, [email protected]

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 59 NEW CNPS FELLOW—TERESA SHOLARS by Lori Hubbart

s a teenager, Teresa Ann thor of the classic Flora of the and picturesque “pygmy forest” of Sholars fell in love with Marshes of California, and remem- Mendocino County. wild California, despite an bers clearly his answer to her ques- Together they set about discov- urban upbringing. Her tion of how one goes about writing a ering and defining the relationships homeA town, the San Joaquin Valley flora. His answer: “Just do it!” between the plants and the extreme, burg of Fresno, was fairly close to She also found someone who highly acidic “pygmy” soils. They the mountains, where her family had shared her dream of combining sci- were lucky to work with a pioneer- a cabin. As a lanky tomboy of 14, ence, learning, teaching, regional ing older scientist, Hans Jenny, pro- Terry Baxter landed a summer job specialization, and homesteading. fessor of soil science at U.C. Berke- that helped set the course of her life. He was a fellow graduate student, ley. Teresa and Rob often rode horses Her family had friends who raised the brilliant, charismatic Robert to their pygmy forest research sites, cattle and horses, and every summer E. Sholars. They got married and and she remembers digging a thou- they moved with their herds up to headed north to study the gnarled sand test holes in the soil. mountain pastures in the Sierra Ne- vada. Terry signed on as a babysitter Taking a break with her companion Max in the Sierra National Forest just outside of for their young child, but then she Yosemite National Park. Max travels with Teresa on all of her plant collecting trips, and saw ranch hands riding cutting is a most agreeable botanizing partner. Photograph by L. Foote. horses, herding livestock, and track- ing strays through the wildlands. That work called to her in a powerful way that babysitting did not, and she per- suaded them to let her switch jobs. Thus began the wild career of Terry the Teenage Summer Wrangler. Those summers in the High Sierra nurtured her spirit and con- vinced Teresa to seek a career working with nature. Her family may have been taken aback, but she pursued her goal with the steely determina- tion of a wrangler going after a stray heifer. She received a B.S. in environmental planning and management from the University of Califor- nia, Davis, in 1974 and an M.S. in ecology from Davis in 1975. Those were the days when botany students spent a lot of time in the field, with gracious, larger-than-life older scientists as their mentors. Teresa has golden memories of working with some stellar botanists, such as following Jack Major and Ledyard Stebbins as they clambered up hillsides seeking interesting plants. One special memory is of a field trip with Herbert Mason for a class on aquatic ecology. She was also intimidated, sitting next to the au-

60 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 proud when she began working on lupines. In 1987 Teresa began serving as rare plant coordinator for the chapter, a position she still holds. Over the years she has given many talks and field trips for the chapter, and has inventoried and written plant lists for many important natural areas within the chapter’s purview. Perhaps most importantly, she has been the linchpin of the Chap- ter’s unofficial, but vital conservation committee. In that role she has actively advocated for conservation of rare plants and plant communities, written letters, testified at public meetings, and met with a variety Teresa teaching a 2007 Lupine identification workshop for the Pacific Northwest Herbarium of stakeholder groups. She has also Conference in Idaho. Photograph by B. Ertter. provided critical scientific information for chapter conservation chairs Robert E. Sholars’ short but im- Manual project was underway, but and presidents. portant book, The Pygmy Forest and several genera lacked authors. Jim In 36 years of teaching in the Associated Plant Communities of Hickman, its first editor, asked Life Science Department at the Col- Coastal Mendocino County, came out Teresa to author the genus Lupinus. lege of the Redwoods, Teresa has in 1982. The couple, along with their It was a hard but exhilarating introduced countless students to good friends, Hans and Jean Jenny, time, sharing a country homestead native plants and to CNPS. She has were very involved in education and with her husband and three lively become a mentor to some students advocacy on behalf of the pygmy young children. They had gotten who have gone on to careers in forest. They worked for public ac- through losing their first house in a botany or ecology in academics, quisition of a notable pygmy sphag- fire, but then in 1988 Rob Sholars agencies, or conservation organiza- num bog site, and Rob and Jean pro- was killed in an auto accident. Teresa tions. Many returning students need vided information that helped win then threw herself into raising her Teresa’s classes in order to be more the Sierra Club’s lawsuit to protect children and teaching natural his- effective in their work. pygmy forest in the Coastal Zone. tory at the College of the Redwoods In a county with no four-year While still graduate students, in Fort Bragg. Her hopes of complet- colleges, she has personified the Teresa and Rob had joined the Dor- ing her Ph.D. faded under the weighty principles behind scientific inquiry. othy King Young Chapter of the Cali- responsibilities of being a single par- Her educational and outreach work fornia Native Plant Society. They ent and family breadwinner. has given credibility to the biolog- were the “kids” of the group, since The work revising the taxonomy ical sciences, native plants, and most of its members were translo- of lupines challenged her intellect CNPS. cated retirees. They were all thrilled and helped her stay focused on Now married to Michael Lloyd, to be learning about native plants botany. As a research associate at a law enforcement officer, writer, together. the Jepson Herbarium, Teresa was and organic gardener, Teresa finds In 1986 Teresa, while on sab- able to study lupines all over the herself in the position of mentor batical from the College of the Red- state, sometimes in the company of and elder stateswoman of botany. woods, began her Ph.D. program in distinguished botanists. The cama- She is currently finishing the treat- botany at U.C. Berkeley, where she raderie, the mental stimulation, and ment of Lupinus for the Flora of North worked under her major professor, the beauty of California’s wild places America. We hope her life and work Robert Ornduff. She sat at the Jepson helped her rebuild her life. will inspire younger people to de- tea times with venerable botanists Teresa’s many friends from her vote themselves to the natural his- like Lincoln Constance, Laura May CNPS home chapter, Dorothy King tory of particular regions. Dempster, Annetta Carter, and got Young, were tremendously support- to know Barbara Ertter, who remains ive of Teresa during those hard times. Lori Hubbart, P.O. Box 985, Point Arena, a close friend. The huge Jepson Chapter members were thrilled and CA 95468, [email protected]

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 61 On a mule in the mountains of northern Baja California, holding a new subspecies of Haplopappus (the former botanical name for what is probably Ericameria arborescens var. peninsularis). The image is characteristic of Reid’s sense of humor. REID MORAN: 1916–2010 by Thomas Oberbauer

eid Moran, a well-known ex- ing his first paper at the age of 17. municating with a professor from pert on succulents and espe- His education at some of the most Stanford University, he was accepted cially the genus Dudleya, the prestigious universities took a num- there. However, his studies were foremost authority on the ber of twists and turns. After com- delayed one year when he took a Rplants of Baja California and Gua- spring and summer off to work in a dalupe Island, and a CNPS Fellow, Reid Moran in his office at the San Diego placer (open-pit) mine in Alaska, died on January 21, 2010 in Lake Natural History Museum in the early 1980s. collecting plants in his spare time. County, California. Reid was an ex- All photographs courtesy of the San Diego He graduated from Stanford in 1939 Natural History Museum. plorer, scholar, folksinger, and an and then attended classes at the Uni- extraordinarily dedicated scientist versity of California, Berkeley. and botanist. He also conducted studies on the Reid was born June 30, 1916 in California Channel Islands, worked Los Angeles to parents who had as a park naturalist in Yosemite Val- grown up in San Luis Obispo. Early ley, and attended the Yosemite Field on, Reid was interested in geology School during the spring and sum- like his father, and botany, publish- mer of 1941. The Field School, which

62 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 embodied the principle of parks as a took the job in 1957 and stayed for a to carrying his food, water, and plant place for education and study, was quarter of a century. presses on his back while hiking to the first such school for the National Reid became very interested in remote areas. He often also carried a Park Service and provided seven Baja California. In 1963 and early sectional tree pruning pole that weeks of intensive study for nature 1964, he participated in a rugged, could reach several meters in order guides. In Yosemite, he made con- three-month long expedition travel- to collect plants from steep cliffs. He tact with a professor from Cornell ing by mule down the central por- was partial to red and usually wore a University, which he later attended, tion of Baja California. The purpose red floppy felt hat and a red T shirt. receiving a master’s degree in 1942. of the trip was to explore areas where He could survive for days eating only At Cornell, he began a long friend- no botanist had set foot before. Dur- unheated cans of beef stew. In con- ship with Robert Thorne who later ing the journey, one of the mules versation, he spoke slowly and with became director of the Rancho Santa was killed by a mountain lion and purpose. In his fifties he climbed Ana Botanic Garden. two others died of thirst. He took Picacho del Diablo, the 10,000 foot World War II interrupted his part in other expeditions including high rock pinnacle in the northern studies, and he enlisted in the Army hiking solo the length of Angel de la part of Baja California. In his mid- Air Corps. He was called up for duty Guarda, a 45-mile-long desert island sixties he led a group of botanists up in 1942 as a navigator on a B-24 in the Sea of Cortez. He also hiked the nearly vertical slopes of North- bomber. His plane was shot down over the top of Guadalupe Island ern Guadalupe Island to observe the on its first mission and he para- more than a dozen times. endemic palms, and in his seventies chuted into Yugoslavia. He was Beside his explorations of Gua- he hiked ten miles up the island to shipped back home, but on the way dalupe Island and the mountains of an elevation of 4,000 feet. took a very slow passage with cir- Central Baja California, Reid trav- His publications number in the cuitous routes, including a hitch hik- eled in his boxy red and white Inter- hundreds, including descriptions of ing foray through North Africa with national Harvester Scout (part Jeep new species of plants from the Si- stops in Algeria and Dakar, and a and part safari vehicle) on any road erra de San Pedro Martir, the Flora course through Brazil, collecting he could find, fording flooded of Guadalupe Island, Flora of Angel plants on the way. He was awarded streams, avoiding flooded rivers, and de la Guarda, and as a coauthor, the the Distinguished Flying Cross and conducting CNPS trips for the San Grasses of Baja California, and the was discharged in 1946. Diego Chapter during the 1970s. Vascular Flora of Isla Socorro, Mexico. For a year and a half, he worked While in his office, Reid was all busi- He also finished the treatment of the at the Santa Barbara Botanical Gar- ness, working long hours into the Crassulaceae for the Flora of North den, but when given the opportu- night, but always willing to answer America in 2009, and he is coauthor nity to be groomed as its next direc- a question from a sincere botanist. with Robert Thorne of Vascular tor, he decided the position would On field trips, such as be too confining. It was also during to the Sierra San Pedro In the field sitting on a duffel bag next to the museum this time that he visited Guadalupe Martir in 1977, his per- truck. He is examining a plant press drying setup, with the Island for the first time, accompa- sonality changed com- press suspended over a camp stove. It’s likely he draped the tarp over the entire apparatus after he was satisfied that nying George Lindsay who later be- pletely around the the stove was burning properly. came the director of the California campfire. He became Academy of Sciences. Reid then re- the life of the party, turned to UC Berkeley, working as playing any guitar that the herbarium botanist and obtain- someone brought ing his Ph.D. in 1951. He then re- along and singing old turned to Cornell and worked at the songs such as “Blood Bailey Hortorium (at the time the on the Saddle” in a major U. S. center for the systemat- deep baritone voice. He ics of cultivated plants) for a couple was a long time mem- of years. Later, he taught biology to ber of the San Diego American military forces in Japan Folk Song Society. and Korea, exploring nearby coun- Physically Reid was tries and collecting plants, particu- what some have called larly the Crassulaceae. By that time, a “specimen.” He was George Lindsay was director of the six foot two, with mas- San Diego Natural History Museum sive shoulders of solid and was looking for a botanist. Reid muscle, probably due

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 63 Plants of the High Sierra San Pedro For example, Guadalupe Island had Diego, but also those in the Los An- Mártir, Baja California, Mexico: An an endemic form of both a palm and geles and Riverside areas. Annotated Checklist that was pub- a caracara. In a discussion of how the In the July 1998 issue of Fremon- lished after his death. palms arrived on the island he stated, tia he wrote a large article about Reid Moran had a dry wit and “It would have taken a caracara with Guadalupe Island, its vegetation and unusual sense of humor. He once great singularity of purpose to carry its plight. His book on the flora of published a paper in Madroño com- a palm fruit to the island.” He also Guadalupe—published in 1996 by memorating the collection of Cneori- showed a blank slide to commemo- the California Academy of Sciences dium dumosum (bush rue) on a dis- rate the extinction of Hesperelaea, a after nearly 50 years of study—was tant mountaintop in Central Baja tree in the olive family from Guada- pivotal in encouraging members of California. The title was five lines lupe Island. When one visited the the scientific world and politicians long describing exactly where and museum botanical collections, the to remove the feral goats from Gua- when he found it. The entire text of title on the wall was “Hisbarium” dalupe Island. Reid also described a the paper was “I got it there then.” rather than the normal term. Once number of species considered rare There were 28 more lines, all ac- when visiting the museum decades and endangered in San Diego County knowledgments including the per- after he retired, he had cut out a and other parts of Southern Califor- son who reviewed the text, his pro- heart-shaped piece of purple paper nia. Much of the information that fessors in college, and the person representing a purple heart for being was used in the early CNPS rare who mailed the manuscript. He also wounded in action and presented it plant inventory for many of the rare once named a plant with a term that to Jon Rebman, the current curator, plants in the San Diego region came translates into the word “silent.” He with the statement, “This is for you from collections and data that he indicated that it was not that the because you collect cacti.” generated. plant was especially quiet, but it was During his time at the San Diego While Reid did not attend every quieter than the other species in the Natural History Museum, the num- meeting or field trip for the local genus. ber of botanical specimens increased CNPS chapter, he was the unofficial His lectures also reflected this wit. from 44,000 to 108,000, with the taxonomic and horticultural advi- vast majority being his. He made me- sor to the San Diego Chapter. His Reid Moran tending a plant press in North- ticulous notes on the locations and field trips were real treats. He was a ern Baja California in 1970, and wearing associated species for all of his col- good educator, and his teaching and his trademark red felt hat. lections in a series of notebooks that work reflected his great attention to are now available online at the detail. Reid Moran’s passion about museum’s website. He seemed to have plants and botany is unparalleled. written them with the expectation His work in the San Diego and Baja that they would be read by others. California region provides a scien- He also made beautiful photographs tific basis for all future studies in of many of the plants he collected. this region, and his personality al- Reid moved to Northern Cali- ways provided an interesting and fornia and married the former Ellen sometimes unexpected viewpoint. Boersma during the 1980s, but later divorced. He has a daughter Jenna The historical and educational sec- of Washington D.C., a stepson Mat- tions of this tribute to Reid Moran thew Boersma of Santa Rosa, a sister are taken from “Reid Moran, the Katharine Cashman of Reno, and Biography of a Botanist,” written by several nieces and nephews. B. Robinson, an unpublished report In a short biography when he for Botany 496, San Diego State Uni- . was made a Fellow of the California versity, Mitchel Beauchamp, Instruc- Native Plant Society in 1983, it was tor. Special thanks also to Judy Gibson stated, “In a profession where single- from the San Diego Natural History minded dedication is needed, great Museum for the photographs and physical endurance useful, and ec- information in an obituary on the centricity cherished, Reid has always museum website. exceeded the requirements.” He opened up an entire frontier for Thomas Oberbauer, AECOM, 1420 many CNPS members in Southern Kettner Boulevard # 500, San Diego, CA California, not just those from San 92101-2434, [email protected]

64 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010

. Long-time Fremontia designer and gardening enthusiast Beth Hansen-Winter in the stunning Oregon garden she has created. Photograph by D. Foglio. BETH HANSEN-WINTER: CNPS DESIGNER EXTRAORDINAIRE by Phyllis M. Faber

eth Hansen-Winter became returning to California, she worked into a 25-year association with the designer for Fremontia for as a freelance designer with Laurence CNPS. the July 1985 issue, and has Hyman, a nationally known sports In 1984 I became the editor of maintained a smart, elegant publisher who had created the origi- Fremontia and welcomed Beth to the Blook for the publication ever since. nal Fremontia design and served publication in the summer of 1985. It’s now been 25 years since she CNPS as its artistic director. In her In our early days of producing Fre- began designing publications for role working with him, Beth helped montia, much of the work was done CNPS. While she has maintained a create magazines and yearbooks for by hand. We sent manuscripts out low profile all these years, Fremontia such baseball teams as the New York to be typeset and Beth pasted up readers deserve to know a bit more Yankees, the Chicago Cubs, and the mechanicals using wax, Exacto about her. San Francisco Giants. Later, she also knives, and a drafting table. In the Beth began her career of photog- photographed ball club fans and the mid-1990s we became computerized raphy and design with a magazine surrounding ambience—everything and our production methods changed in Monterey, California, and shortly except the actual games—for a se- completely. Beth did a substantial thereafter as a designer and photog- ries of commemorative books on the redesign of Fremontia around 2000, rapher of elegant coffee table books World Series. While working with with a new cover look, new fonts, on Mexican art, culture, and history Laurence, Beth took over as designer and a three-column format that al- for a publisher in Mexico City. After of Fremontia and that has grown lowed for more flexibility in layout

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 65

. design, and color was added in 2006. one of the most remarkable aspects garden. Having gone digital years Fremontia has been and remains a of her life is her discovery and en- before, Fremontia could be as- distinguished voice for the Califor- thusiastic pursuance of the joys of sembled by the use of a computer, a nia Native Plant Society ever since the plant world. When Beth first phone, and an occasional delightful the journal was first published in began her association with CNPS, visit. Three editors, Linda Vorobik, 1973. she was living in a warehouse studio Bart O’Brien, and Bob Hass, have During the 1990s Beth also was in the Mission District of San Fran- now successfully worked with her the designer for the books the Soci- cisco—a building with no windows, in this way. ety published—19 in all—as well as only skylights. At the time, she could Beth has created a stunning and its book catalog. Over the years, she barely distinguish the difference be- magical garden in Oregon and is a has designed books and covers for tween a rose and a daisy. mainstay and avid member of her diverse clients throughout the coun- In 1994, she and artist husband study group in the Hardy Plant So- try, but has always particularly en- Peter moved to a rental house in ciety of Oregon, where one of her joyed the botanical and natural his- Petaluma, where she bought some friends now refers to her as Bethi- tory books that have come her way. plants for pots to make a bleak ce- pedia for her broad knowledge of In 1997 she completed California’s ment patio more visually bearable. plant names and horticulture. (She Wild Gardens for CNPS and the Cali- There she first learned the differ- credits her aptitude for botanical fornia Department of Fish and Game; ence between shade-loving and sun- Latin to familiarity gained from her in 2002 she designed The Shape of loving plants. A year later, pots were many years working with Fremontia Life for the Monterey Bay Aquarium; crowded cheek-to-jowl in her gar- and other horticultural publica- and in 2004 she completed Plants den; Beth was consuming catalogs tions.) and Landscapes for Summer Dry Cli- and books and learning all the plant So three cheers for Beth! She mates for the East Bay Municipal names, common and scientific. Be- certainly deserves huge gratitude Utility District, three books that she’s fore too long, her patio and garden from both Fremontia’s editors and especially proud of. were on the Petaluma garden tour. I from its readers. We deeply appreci- Beth has lived in four countries was spellbound, to say the least. ate her work, diligence, artistic cre- (Kenya, India, Japan, and Mexico), In 2002, Beth and Peter moved ativity, and dedication. traveled to many more, and is con- to Oregon where they bought a versational in five languages (French, lovely wooded six-acre property Phyllis M. Faber, 212 Del Casa Dr., Mill Swahili, Japanese, and Spanish, along where Peter could build an art stu- Valley, CA 94941, pmfaber@comcast. with English, of course), but to me dio and Beth could create her dream net

BOOK REVIEWS

The Nature Of This Place: Investi- The Nature Of This Place is just nia’s wild lands and its magnificent gations and Adventures in the Yuba such a book. It is an inspirational model wildflowers. It is an adventure that Watershed by Bruce Boyd and Liese for those of us who cherish Califor- chronicles, with beautiful essays and Greensfelder, editors. 2011. Comstock historical background, how a commu- Bonanza Press, Grass Valley, CA. 217 nity came together in partnership with pages. $20.00, soft cover. ISBN# 978- a governmental agency to manage a 0-933994-49-2. forest habitat in the northern Sierra What happens when a small group Nevada foothills of California. And, as of people comes together out of a shared one resident, Gary Snyder, writes in love of the land to create a true com- the introduction, “…this book is not munity? What if they are united by a only to share what we’ve learned so watershed and a belief that every being far, but will be for future readers an in the community—not just the people, invitation to join in, add on, and help but all the animals, the plants, the small make the eventual transformation to a creatures, the flowing waters, and the culture of durability, conscience, and habitat as a whole—have equal and sustainability possible here at the west- respected rights within the commu- ern edge of the continent and at the nity? In a community like this, nature eastern edge of the Pacific.” is no longer an “it” but a “we,” and is The adventure that Bruce Boyd tells cared for by everyone. And if we are us began in 1991 when the Yuba Wa- lucky, someone writes a book about it. tershed Institute was born out of “a

66 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 mild state of environmental militancy.” Watershed Institute created a journal ning at the back door, I follow the The Bureau of Land Management in 1991 called “Tree Rings,” to inform flattened grass and deer tracks in (BLM) and the South Yuba River State people about their work and about the mud that soon turn to rocks Park were planning to erect a radio the rich experiences that come from and exposed roots in the slight de- tower on Bald Mountain, which was a knowing and loving the place in which pression called a trail…Patches of place treasured by the community for they live. From articles, sketches, pho- narrow sword-like native irises and its unique serpentine Macnab cypress/ tography, and poetry compiled over newly sprouting violet leaves ap- Garry oak/manzanita ecosystem and 20 years from the journals, we experi- pear in shaded, moist areas…How for the beautiful views of the South ence their ponderings, discoveries, will the creek song change as it Yuba River canyon. The “environmen- successes, and challenges of living on breaks around a boulder or a log? tal militancy” grew into a cooperative the land. This isn’t just a story of set- Could I hear a deer or a mountain plan, as Boyd describes it, with “the ting land aside to preserve it, but one lion lapping at its surface? How enlightened BLM district manager, where people have learned to live in attuned to this unnamed Yuba Deane Swickard, …to cooperate in the balance with nature, while in some watershed “porous way” can I be- management of some 2,000 acres on cases even depending upon it for their come?…The wind circles, carving six disparate BLM parcels.” livelihoods. space around me as though I have The cooperative plan was devel- There are those in the watershed been sitting here for hundreds of oped with the BLM and two primary who make their living creating beauti- years. groups of residents, the newly created ful works of art, award-winning furni- Yuba Watershed Institute and the lo- ture, and other items from salvaged The titles of some of the other cal Timber Framer’s Guild. Their mis- timber. It is a model that, with love, contributions in the book provide a sion was to sustainably manage the could revolutionize how we interact, flavor of what is to come, such as “In federal lands surrounding their own enjoy, and merge with the land, as we the Shadow of Manzanita,” “The Saga properties. The Cooperative Manage- create our place within, not over, na- of the Cranberry,” “Learning from the ment Agreement that they created has ture. And, to complete the story, the Woods,” “Meadow Restoration in the the long-range objective to “encour- radio tower was placed out of sight in Inimim Forest,” and “Winter Rain age the recreation of an old-growth a remote part of the land, and the Children.” forest through management practices community continues to be an’“alive” This is a book that stimulates the consistent with the natural process of community that teaches its children mind and nurtures our hearts, inspir- forest succession.” The management how to know and love the land. ing each of us to help create meaning- became the responsibility of the com- To give you a sense of the qual- ful communities where we live. Ulti- munity, through the Institute and the ity of the writing, here is an excerpt mately, it will only be through win- Guild, with the BLM acting as a part- from a poetic piece by resident Tavia ning the hearts and minds of people ner and “coach” in the effort. The group Cathcart: that we will begin to care more deeply calls the lands the “Inimim Forest,” about the places where we live, and after the local Maidu-Nisenan name The “backyard” holds numerous through this learn to treat nature with for the ponderosa pines that grow beginnings. Radiating from the respect and even kindness. This beau- abundantly in the area. cabin is Bald Mountain, the South tifully written and illustrated book can To educate, inspire, and get the Yuba River canyon, rolling hills, inspire us to do just that. support of local residents, The Yuba neighbors to meet and visit. Begin- —Julie Carville

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA 67 68 FREMONTIA VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 Join Today! CNPS member gifts allow us to promote and protect California’s native plants and their habitats. Gifts are tax-deductible minus the $12 of the total gift which goes toward publication of Fremontia.

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CONTRIBUTORS (continued from back cover) Phyllis M. Faber served as Fremontia’s editor from 1984-1999, and for many years was CNPS publications chair. Lori Hubbart is currently conservation chair for the Dorothy King Young Chapter of CNPS, a garden writer, and land steward on the Mendocino coast. Todd Keeler-Wolf is the senior vegetation ecologist with the California Department of Fish and Game, and is senior program advisor to the CNPS Vegetation Program. Jon E. Keeley is a Department of Interior research scientist whose work has focused on ecological impacts of wildfires, and historical changes in fire regimes and impacts on invasive non-native plants. Adam Lambert is a research biologist in the Marine Science Institute at UCSB. His work examines multi-trophic interactions among native and invasive plants and insects, biological control, and restoration ecology. Betsey Landis is a member of the CNPS Chapter Council Policy Committee, and cochaired its fire policy subcommittee. For many years she has studied the long-term effects of fuel management and wildfire on native flora in Southern California. Thomas Oberbauer recently retired as chief of the Multiple Species Planning Division for the San Diego County Department of Planning and Land Use. He participated with Dr. Reid Moran in field trips, lectures, and explorations, and received botanical advice from him for more than 30 years. Julie Rogers is cofounder and executive director of the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council. She is also a former firefighter and pilot, and the author of two books. Greg Rubin is founder and president of California’s Own Native Landscape Design, Inc. in Escondido, CA. His Southern California company specializes in native landscape design and installation. John O. Sawyer is a longtime member and Fellow (in 1995) of CNPS. A cofounder of the North Coast Chapter and past President (1974-1976) of the Society, John remains an active member of the CNPS Vegetation Committee. Suzanne Schettler is a licensed landscape contractor specializing in the restoration of native plants. She is a life member of CNPS and a former CNPS state president.

VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010 FREMONTIA California Native Plant Society Nonprofit Org. 2707 K Street, Suite 1 Sacramento, CA 95816-5113 U.S. Postage PAID Address Service Requested A.M.S.

CONTRIBUTORS FROM THE EDITOR

Julie Carville, author of Hiking Tahoe’s Wildflower Trails, has alifornia native flora is under stress from increasingly written about and photographed wildflowers and nature chaotic weather, from extreme droughts to ferocious throughout California for over 30 years. She is a longtime Cstorms, and record high temperatures to record freezes. member of CNPS and the current vice-president of the Red- When it comes to habitat destruction and loss of species, bud Chapter. however, the more immediate causes are increasing land development in, or adjacent to, wildland areas, and increas- Jack Cohen is a research physical scientist with the U.S. For- ing wildfire frequency often linked to human activities. So est Service at the Forest Service Fire Sciences Laboratory in we need to develop better management practices that con- Missoula, Montana. Since 1989 his research has focused on serve native habitats and reduce the damage wildfires cause. WUI fire disasters and how homes ignite during wildfires. These include fireproofing our homes, paying greater attention to how we landscape around them, and adopting Carla D’Antonio is a professor in the Environmental Stud- land management practices that take into account differ- ies Program and Department of Ecology, Evolution, and ences in the natural role of fire within California’s diverse Marine Biology at UCSB. Among other things she has stud- ecosystems. As some of the articles in this special issue of ied the relationship between fire and invasive species since Fremontia point out, there is also the problem of where we 1990. choose to situate our homes. Many are being built in fairly remote wildland areas, which makes them more prone to Sabrina Drill is the natural resources advisor for Los Ange- fire events, and more difficult and costly to protect. Should les and Ventura Counties for the University of California we discourage future development in these areas, and if so, Cooperative Extension. She conducts research on watershed how should we go about doing that? management, aquatic habitat conservation, fire preparation This is not an issue of Fremontia that many will want to and recovery, and invasive species. read at one sitting, since it contains a lot of information that can best be absorbed gradually. However it is an issue that Tom Dudley is an aquatic ecologist in the Marine Science may well serve as a continuing resource for all whose lives Institute at UCSB. He studies the impacts and control of in- and work are impacted by fire in one way or another. vasive species in riparian areas of western North America, Furthermore, all of the articles on fire that appear in this particularly the use of biological control in ecosystem resto- issue will soon be placed in the Conservation section of the ration. CNPS state website. A word of thanks for this issue goes out deservedly to Julie Evens is the vegetation program director for CNPS. CNPS member Betsey Landis, who cochaired CNPS’s fire policy subcommittee, and helped formulate the Society’s Yvonne Everett is professor of environmental planning at newest policy on native plants and fire safety. Her advice Humboldt State University and has worked with several Fire was invaluable. Safe Councils in far Northern California. —Bob Hass

FREMONTIA (continued on inside back cover) VOLUME 38:2/38:3, APRIL 2010/JULY 2010