This is a great article! I hope I haven't misunderstood, but I'm not sure that the topic of chaparral (scrub) fires, in other words brushfires, has been addressed here. That's what's burning in Pacific Palisades. That's mostly what covers our hills here in LA. Are you saying that these species need to be replaced? Thats a lot of hills to recover!
Thanks for reading! Paul is not suggesting that coastal chaparral be replaced, but notes that in the heavily populated areas of coastal SoCal there are unnaturally frequent fire ignitions by humans. (Of course it's not just ignition that's the problem: drought conditions exacerbated by climate change makes the landscape even more fire-prone.) Paul notes that the frequency of these fires in chaparral / scrubland prevents natural regeneration and tends to facilitate conversion to other vegetation, like invasive shrubs and grasses (which are a greater fire hazard than native chaparral species).
Here are his suggestions for chaparral fires:
"1. Prevent fires from starting or stop them almost immediately. You may hear the phrase “pre-positioning” fire engines and resources when there is going to be a red flag weather event. In the case of the current fires, I believe the state had deployed an additional 66 engines to SoCal to be able to react more quickly to any new fire starts.
"2. Make structures less flammable. There are lots of ways to make homes less vulnerable, including removing flammable vegetation & material from within 5’ of the house, getting rid of landscaping bark, replacing wood-shake roofing, upgrading single pane windows, and upgrading attic vents to keep embers from getting sucked into the attic. Some of these are expensive (roofs and windows) and some are unpopular (non-flammable zone 0-5’ from home), but they can make the difference between a home being doomed versus being defendable. Note that modern building standards are much better for fire than older standards that were used for most existing homes.
"3. Restore more natural landscape conditions. Past management, invasive species, and fire suppression have changed the type and density of vegetation. Restoring conditions more analogous to pre-colonization conditions would be better adapted to fire."
In the case of 3, he is suggesting that in areas where invasive species have proliferated, that they be removed and that native chaparral be planted in their stead.
This is a great article! I hope I haven't misunderstood, but I'm not sure that the topic of chaparral (scrub) fires, in other words brushfires, has been addressed here. That's what's burning in Pacific Palisades. That's mostly what covers our hills here in LA. Are you saying that these species need to be replaced? Thats a lot of hills to recover!
Thanks for reading! Paul is not suggesting that coastal chaparral be replaced, but notes that in the heavily populated areas of coastal SoCal there are unnaturally frequent fire ignitions by humans. (Of course it's not just ignition that's the problem: drought conditions exacerbated by climate change makes the landscape even more fire-prone.) Paul notes that the frequency of these fires in chaparral / scrubland prevents natural regeneration and tends to facilitate conversion to other vegetation, like invasive shrubs and grasses (which are a greater fire hazard than native chaparral species).
Here are his suggestions for chaparral fires:
"1. Prevent fires from starting or stop them almost immediately. You may hear the phrase “pre-positioning” fire engines and resources when there is going to be a red flag weather event. In the case of the current fires, I believe the state had deployed an additional 66 engines to SoCal to be able to react more quickly to any new fire starts.
"2. Make structures less flammable. There are lots of ways to make homes less vulnerable, including removing flammable vegetation & material from within 5’ of the house, getting rid of landscaping bark, replacing wood-shake roofing, upgrading single pane windows, and upgrading attic vents to keep embers from getting sucked into the attic. Some of these are expensive (roofs and windows) and some are unpopular (non-flammable zone 0-5’ from home), but they can make the difference between a home being doomed versus being defendable. Note that modern building standards are much better for fire than older standards that were used for most existing homes.
"3. Restore more natural landscape conditions. Past management, invasive species, and fire suppression have changed the type and density of vegetation. Restoring conditions more analogous to pre-colonization conditions would be better adapted to fire."
In the case of 3, he is suggesting that in areas where invasive species have proliferated, that they be removed and that native chaparral be planted in their stead.
Hope this helps :)
Yes! Thank you.