Select, maintain vegetation to help make property FireWise

Many plants native to Colorado are highly flammable during the summer and can fuel a wildfire, causing it to spread rapidly. Removing flammable native vegetation and replacing it with low-growing, fire-resistive plants is one of the easiest and most effective ways to create defensible space and make a property FireWise.

"Selecting landscape vegetation that is fire-resistive and easy to maintain may also visually enhance your property and certainly will help make it less vulnerable to wildfire," said Judy Serby, Conservation Education Division supervisor with the Colorado State Forest Service.

In general, fire-resistive plants grow close to the ground; have a low sap or resin content; grow without accumulating dead branches, needles, leaves or other debris; are easy to maintain and prune; and in some cases are drought-tolerant.

"If fire-resistive plants are not available, vary the height of landscape plants and give them adequate spacing. The taller the plants, the more widely spaced they should be," Serby said.

Here are additional precautions to help protect personal property and communities.

• Work with neighbors to clear common areas between homes and other structures and prune areas of heavy vegetation.
• Avoid planting trees under or near electrical lines.
• Thin trees to decrease fire hazard and improve forest health.
• Remove dead, weak or diseased trees and trees that are obviously leaning, and leave a healthy mixture of older and younger trees.

Contact the local fire department, local nursery or CSFS district office to learn more about fire-resistive plants. A copy of fact sheet number 6.305, FireWise Plant Materials, contains an extensive list of plants suitable for various elevations and soil conditions, and is available at CSFS district offices or online at www.colostate.edu/Depts/CSFS.