Firefuel Reduction: Balancing Human & Wildlife Needs at Cottonwood Canyon

Trying to meet the needs of wildlife and the human neighbors of our preserves is a tricky balancing act!

Being in the business of urban conservation means we’re stewarding land that’s directly adjacent to or near homes. This is the situation at upper Cottonwood Canyon, our preserve in Pasadena. Enhancing native habitat for wildlife while meeting the needs of human neighbors means compromise and nuanced solutions to land management problems.

What does this look like? Last month we faced this challenge at our Cottonwood Canyon Preserve in Pasadena. The Eaton Fire made our routine work of fire clearance more important than ever. We needed to remove brush at the top of the property – both for the safety of our neighbors and for the health of the ecosystem – but wanted to keep the habitat intact to support wildlife.

 

LA County can require up to 200 feet of defensible space around structures in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones and one common practice is clear-cutting native shrubs like laurel sumac. However, this method doesn’t support the ecosystem, so we wanted to do it differently.

 

Our fire clearance crew meticulously removed invasive species, like flammable annual grasses and dried mustard plants, but kept healthy native shrubs, bushes, and trees in place.

 

They removed some of the underbrush and deadwood – this material fuels faster and hotter flames during a fire, so it had to go.

 

We were also thinking about our feathered friends. Nesting season for birds runs from April – August, so we preserved tree canopies and brush above a certain height to protect their habitat.

 

For now, we even opted to leave invasive palm trees in place to support bats that might be relying on them for roosting. To mitigate fire risk though, we made sure to remove all dead fronds from the ground (and there were a lot of them!).

 

This type of land-stewardship helps ensure the safety and health of people, wildlife, and the land. It’s something we can all work towards in our own yards and community green spaces. Creating a more harmonious urban-wildland interface means considering the needs of all species who call the region home.

Thank you to our wonderful neighbors who were willing to find compromises and are enthusiastic about supporting their wild neighbors!