Fire-Wise Land Stewardship

It’s officially fire season in California. With our minds on both fire safety and ecosystem health, our staff are working with local parks and open space departments to help them plan their mowing schedules to achieve fuel load reduction goals. Timed properly, mowing not only reduces flammable plant material, it also reduces the invasive weed seed bank. That means less fuel for fire the following year, and more space for native plants to reestablish.

When timed correctly, mowing can have dramatic results. At our Hawthorns restoration site in the foothills of San Mateo County, strategically timed mowing of invasive yellow starthistle—followed up with hand pulling of resprouts by our staff and volunteers—resulted in a 98% decrease in average yellow starthistle density from 2017 to 2020, according to annual vegetation surveys using randomized quadrat samples. In areas that were once dense with prickly thistle, this spring we are seeing lupines, clarkias, milkweed, and native perennial grass species.

College interns monitoring for yellow starthistle at Hawthrons | June 2021

Further down the watershed in Los Altos, young members of the San Jose Conservation Corps are focused on another strategy for fire prevention. While learning the ropes of sustainable fire management, Corps members are working with our staff to remove dead wood and woody invasive species at Redwood Grove Nature Preserve (pictured below). Though woody debris can be good for the ecosystem—providing a variety of cover habitats for fish, aquatic insects, and wildlife—over a century of fire suppression in the wildland-urban interface has created hazardous accumulation of ladder fuels that pose a fire risk within this residential park. 

There are many ways you can promote fire safety and support wildlife at your home, but the ground rules aren’t always obvious. Learn how you can prepare for fire season at home: Create a Fire-Resistant Habitat at Home.

By Kristen Williams, Habitat Restoration Director