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Coral Aloe will protect your property from wildfire while it brightens your sustainable landscape. Photo: Don Graham/Flickr-Creative Commons license Firefighting plants

Call On These Five Firefighting Plants

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Wildfire is a real and constant threat in San Diego County year-round, but particularly in the late summer and fall months. This is especially true in wildland interface areas where homes are right next to the backcountry. Landscape design, plant selection, and maintenance must be done in accordance with fire-safe guidelines. 

Wildfire is a real and consistent threat 

Plan your landscaping according to principles governing three different zones:  

Zone 1: Through smart design elements and plant selection, landscapes should resist ignition and provide 35 feet of actively maintained defensible space around structures and access areas. This maximizes fire prevention and allows access by crews to protect your property from fire, if necessary. 

Zone 2: Your landscape should reduce the chances of airborne embers from catching fire through a careful thinning of native vegetation for at least 65 additional feet — a total of 100 feet of defensible space.  

Zone 3: Many of San Diego County’s native plant communities including chaparral can survive and recover from infrequent wildfires. Some plants use fire as a signal to begin growth and start the germination process after a fire.  

When fires occur too frequently, the ability to survive is disrupted for even the most well-adapted plants. Invasive, non-native plant species have made fires more frequent, of longer duration, and hotter. It is critical to remove invasive plants in fire-prone areas.

Use plants that resist ignition 

Some native plants have the ability to prevent airborne plant embers. They have a high salt or water content and low volatile oil content in their leaves. For instance, agaves, aloes, crassulas, and other succulents store extra water in their fleshy leaves.  

Five firefighting plant choices include: 

  • Daylily hybrids 
  • Coral Aloe 
  • Indian Mallow
  • Bush Morning Glory 
  • California Sycamore trees 

Avoid plants that can fuel wildfires  

Messy, oily trees and shrubs, such as eucalyptus and junipers, do the opposite. They ignite quickly, burning hot and long, releasing embers into the air and contributing to the spread of wildfire. 

Preventative maintenance includes regularly removing dry grass, thatch, brush, weeds, litter, waste, and dead and dying vegetation. Trees should be properly pruned. Shrubs should be thinned, with dead branches and leaves routinely removed. Leave root structures intact to avoid erosion. Dead leaves and branches are especially flammable on evergreen shrubs and vines such as bougainvillea. Avoid planting these close to homes or other structures. 

This article was inspired by the 71-page Sustainable Landscapes Program guidebook available at SustainableLandscapesSD.org. The Water Authority and its partners also offer other great resources for landscaping upgrades, including free WaterSmart classes at WaterSmartSD.org.    

 

 

  

OPINION: Safe Drinking Water For All

/in , /by /The New York Timesby Laurel Firestone and Susana De Anda

In 2007, the small town of Lanare in California’s Central Valley finally got what it had desperately needed for years — a treatment plant to remove high levels of arsenic in the drinking water. But the victory was short-lived. Just months after the $1.3 million federally funded plant began running, the town was forced to shut it down because it ran out of money to operate and maintain it. More than a decade later, the plant remains closed and Lanare’s tap water is still contaminated — as is the drinking water piped to about a million other Californians around the state.

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Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019Sweetwater Authority Logo 2019

Sweetwater Authority Water Rate Increase Approved

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Chula Vista, Calif. – The SweeetwaterAuthority authorized new water rates and charges at a public hearing on August 20. Authority customers will see an increase in their water bill for the first time since 2015.

“The budget and rate study process supports the Authority’s commitment to transparency and delivers on its mission to provide safe and reliable water to its valued customers,” said Governing Board Chair Teresa “Terry” Thomas. “The creation and adoption of the Authority’s rate stabilization fund will minimize future rate increases for our customers.”

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Tree Rings Tell CSUF Students About Droughts And Fires In The Sierra

/in , /by /The Orange County Registerby Wendy Fawthorp

Some students plant trees. Some hug them. This summer, eight Cal State Fullerton students sampled trees. Really, the students were listening to what trees had to say about the droughts and fires they had lived through. Specifically, the students extracted cores from trees in the Sierra Nevada – including some in Yosemite that had burned a few years ago – and are now examining the cores back on campus. A new laboratory, the Cal-Dendro Tree Ring Laboratory, has been set up to conduct research on the cores, which are expected to reveal valuable data going back 500 to 1,000 years.

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California’s Water Wars Heat Up At Sacramento Hearing Over River Flows

/in , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Kurtis Alexander

Central Valley farmers and their elected leaders converged on Sacramento on Tuesday to accuse the state of engineering a water grab that puts the fate of fish above their fields and jeopardizes a thriving agricultural economy. The allegations came at a meeting of the powerful State Water Resources Control Board, which recently unveiled a far-reaching plan to shore up the health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the West Coast’s largest estuary and a source of water for much of California.

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OPINION: No, Californians Cannot Be Fined For Using Too Much Water

/in , /by /Times of San Diegoby Caroline Koch

Following California’s adoption of new water efficiency legislation in May, quite a lot has been written about the implications for urban water providers and their customers. The dominant emerging narrative is that by signing these “draconian measures” into law Gov. Jerry Brown has made it “illegal to shower and do laundry on the same day,” that individuals using more than 55 gallons of water per day will be subject to “hefty fines,” and that state authority over local water utilities has expanded in ways that “amount to tyranny.”

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Sweetwater Authority Approves Water Rate Hikes For Next Five Years

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby David Hernandez Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

Water customers in National City, Bonita and western Chula Vista will see more expensive bills over five years under a proposal the Sweetwater Authority governing board approved Monday. The board voted 5-1 to authorize the plan, which allows the agency to increase rates between 2020 and 2024 based on the annual change in consumer prices. Board member Jose Preciado cast the dissenting vote. Board member Steve Castaneda was absent.

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Oceanside’s North River Farms Project Seeks Talks On Water, Sewer, Streets Needs

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

North River Farms, a proposed development that would bring hundreds of homes, a hotel and commercial properties to a rural area of northeastern Oceanside, returns to the City Council on Wednesday to request a development agreement. Approval of the agreement would allow the developer, Integral Communities, to negotiate the terms of things such as new water and sewer lines, street improvements and affordable housing that the city requires to be included with the project. Further approvals would be required before any construction begins.

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Water Main Break Floods Coronado Intersection, Shuts Off Water To Block Of Homes

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Alex Riggins

A water main broke Tuesday in Coronado, flooding an intersection and shutting off water to a block of homes in an outage that was expected to last until early Wednesday morning. Brown water flooded the roadway near Pomona Avenue and Sixth Street about 3:30 p.m., city officials said. A contractor reportedly hit the line, causing the break. Crews from California American Water “committed to work around the clock until the broken water line is repaired,” city officials said on Facebook. Water service was expected to be restored a few hours after midnight.

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Sustainable Landscapes Takes Root In San Diego

/in , /by /Water News Network

More than 225 San Diego County homeowners have transformed their landscapes into beautiful, climate-appropriate mini-watersheds through the Sustainable Landscapes Incentive Program developed by the San Diego County Water Authority and its partners. Since the program launched in October 2016, more than 354,000 square feet of turf has been removed and replaced with sustainable landscaping. Approximately 100 projects are still under way, though the program isn’t taking new applications.

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