Category: Landscaping

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California OKs phaseout of gas-powered landscaping machinery

SACRAMENTO — 

California regulators voted on Thursday to ban the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers starting in 2024 and portable generators by 2028, the latest step in the state’s aggressive effort to reduce harmful pollutants and transition toward a carbon-free economy.

The new regulations by the California Air Resources Board require all newly sold small-motor equipment primarily used for landscaping to be zero-emission by the target dates, with some exceptions.

The agency’s decision is based in part on the belief that battery technology will improve and zero-emission gear will become more widely available before the requirements kick in — though there will be an annual review to determine whether they are on target and whether regulation needs to be altered or delayed.

The restriction applies to homeowners and commercial landscapers alike, and the ban also includes gas-powered weed trimmers, chainsaws and power washers. The regulation does not ban existing gas-powered equipment, however, which can continue to be used.

Combined, these small gas-powered engines create as much smog-causing pollution in California as light-duty passenger cars. There are approximately 15.4 million small off-road engines in California and they produce about 141 tons of smog-forming emissions per day, according to the agency.

Richard Corey, executive director of the agency, told the board that the ban will provide significant health benefits for Californians, including those in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, which tend to experience the highest exposure to pollutants.

Environmental and public health advocates praised the new regulations, saying transitioning to zero-emission landscaping equipment and generators — either battery-powered or plug-in — will not only reduce pollution but protect the health of landscaping workers, homeowners and tenants who are exposed to gas and oil fumes.

“The new sales will start to make this transition to what’s much cleaner as well as quieter equipment,” said Bill Magavern of the Coalition for Clean Air. “That’s going to be a major health improvement for the workers who use the equipment and for residents who are exposed, as well as everybody in the region because smog is really a regional problem.”

Agency staff told the board that while transitioning to zero-emission machinery will lead to an added upfront cost to landscapers, that will be offset by the money they save in fuel, maintenance and repairs. The reduced emissions also will prevent hundreds of premature deaths in the decades ahead, as well as lowering healthcare costs for those affected by the carbon emissions, they said.

Landscaping businesses have adamantly opposed the new restrictions, saying zero-emission, commercial-grade equipment is prohibitively expensive and less efficient than the existing gas-powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers and other small machinery used in the industry. According to one industry representative, a three-person landscaping crew would need to carry 30 to 40 fully charged batteries to power its equipment during a full day’s work.

“The cost of transition would be significant and probably kill my small business,” Elizabeth Burns, president of Zone 24 Landscaping in Torrance, told the board.

Jeff Coad of small-machinery manufacturer Briggs & Stratton told the Air Resources Board that his company supports a move to zero-emission equipment but said the 2024 target date was unrealistic. The quality of zero-emission equipment such as commercial riding lawn mowers remains far behind that of gas-powered versions.

Air Resources Board member Hector De La Torre said when the agency sets ambitious goals, as in this case, “99{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of the time we get there.” If there are problems going forward, however, the board will stop the process and reassess the situation.

“We’re not blind to the realities of what’s going on in the marketplace,” he said.

According to the board, operating a typical professional gas-powered lawn mower for an hour emits as much pollution as driving a car from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Operating a backpack leaf blower for an hour emits pollution comparable to driving that same car from Los Angeles to Denver.

The Air Resources Board began working on the regulations after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order in September 2020 that required the state to “transition to 100{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035 where feasible,” which includes landscaping equipment and portable generators.

In October, Newsom signed legislation enshrining that policy in state law.

Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), author of the legislation, said the state has set aside $30 million to help professional landscapers and gardeners make the transition from gas-powered to zero-emission equipment. Berman and members of the Air Resources Board agree that more money will be needed in the future, particularly for small landscaping businesses.

The ban on gas-powered generators elicited the most opposition during Thursday’s hearing, with critics saying battery-powered generators are an inadequate substitute during a sustained power outage or when access to power to recharge a battery is nonexistent.

Dave Johnston, the air pollution control officer at El Dorado County Air Quality Management District, expressed concern about the consequences for residents in rural areas. Gas-powered portable generators are essential for many Californians, especially those living in areas hit by widespread blackouts when high winds sweep through the state, mostly because utilities are trying to prevent a downed power line from starting a blaze.

“Power outages in rural areas are frequent and can last for several days and are becoming more common,” he told the board, asking it to delay the ban. “Forcing moderate- to low-income rural residents to do without power for extended periods to achieve small emission reductions in these areas that are already in attainment is unconscionable.”

Recreational vehicle manufactures and dealers also urged the board to rethink the generator ban. They said RV users depend on gas-powered generators, which are often permanently mounted, while in remote areas without access to power. Solar-powered equipment cannot provide the energy needed to run medical devices, refrigerators and air conditioning in hot climates, they said.

“The battery required to supply needed power to an RV for just one day would need to be twice the size of a battery currently used in a Tesla Model S and would cost upwards of $60,000 to $100,000, and would add at least 1,000 to 2,000 pounds to a vehicle, decreasing its fuel economy,” said Michael Ochs of the Recreational Vehicle Industry Assn.

Dealers told the board the ban will force Californians to buy RVs in neighboring states where gas-powered generators are permitted, which would cost jobs and do nothing to improve air quality.

Agency officials said those concerns will be assessed before the new regulations are implemented.

The new regulations come as California moves toward the goal of transitioning to 100{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} clean energy by 2045, shedding its reliance on gas-powered cars and slowly phasing out the state’s billion-dollar oil and gas industry.

In the same 2019 executive order to ban gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers, Newsom required all new cars sold to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. Newsom in April took action to ban new permits for hydraulic fracturing starting in 2024, and in October took the first step toward banning new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet of homes, schools and healthcare facilities.

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After release from prison, Doug Evans faces new legal threat

CINCINNATI — Evans Landscaping owner Doug Evans may be out of federal prison for his minority contracting fraud conviction, but he now faces a new legal threat – this time from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

The attorney general’s office filed a civil lawsuit against Evans and his holding companies accusing him of open dumping of solid waste and illegal disposal of construction and demolition debris at three facilities in Hamilton County since at least 2014.

Environmental prosecutors filed the civil complaint in March at the request of Hamilton County health officials and are moving toward an August 2022 trial before Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers.

“Defendants have been aware of the majority of these violations for over five years and have not corrected them. Since 2014, the Hamilton County General Health District conducted over 20 compliance inspections at the sites, issued 17 notice of violation letters to defendants, and met with defendants on numerous occasions to try to resolve the solid waste and C&DD (construction and demolition debris) violations at their sites. Yet defendants have continued to illegally dispose of C&DD and solid waste at the three sites,” prosecutors wrote in their complaint.

Prosecutors say the illegal dumping occurred at three sites in Anderson Township that are owned by Evans: Evans Gravel on 78 acres on Mt. Carmel Road; 8361 Broadwell Road where several warehouses are located on 36 acres zoned for manufacturing; and 4229 Round Bottom Road where Evans corporate headquarters are located on 90 acres that abuts the Little Miami River, according to court and auditor records.

Evans could be fined up to $10,000 per day for the alleged violations, according to the complaint.

This is the latest in a string of legal troubles for Evans, 59, a hardscrabble entrepreneur who built a landscaping empire from a high school job hauling mulch from a pickup truck. He now employs more than 250.

In 2014, Evans agreed to pay $300,000 in fines to settle a complaint with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency over air pollution violations. He also agreed to a $100,000 tree-planting project to serve as a natural windbreak for dust and emissions from his stonework, gravel and sand operations in Hamilton and Clermont counties.

Then a neighbor filed a complaint with the Ohio EPA against Evans in March 2019, accusing him of spreading “something that looks like construction debris/drywall with chunks of tape,” on a Mt. Carmel Road field. That neighbor “found pieces of drywall tape on the ground after the material has been spread,” which was drifting and leaving the site.

The Ohio EPA forwarded that complaint to the Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency, which did not immediately respond to WCPO about its resolution.

In an unrelated case, the FBI began investigating Evans in 2013 for minority contracting fraud. Evans insisted that he was innocent, but a jury convicted him in 2018 of using a shell company to win millions in state and government demolition contracts during the recession that were meant for minority and small businesses.

Evans reported to Ashland Federal Correctional Institution on June 4 to begin serving his 21-month sentence for that conviction.

The Bureau of Prisons and sent him back to Cincinnati on Dec. 2 after serving six months behind bars. He is currently either at a local halfway house or under home confinement until November 2022.

Now the attorney general’s office accuses Evans of illegally dumping construction and demolition debris for at least seven years. Prosecutors say some of it is still buried at his Round Bottom, Broadwell and Mt. Carmel Road properties.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost amended complaint against Doug Evans by paula christian on Scribd


Other debris has mysteriously disappeared, according to the complaint.

“Prior to March 7, 2020, large quantities of (construction and demolition debris), in the form of recovered screen material, were piled on the ground at the Round Bottom site,” prosecutors wrote in the complaint.

Using aerial photographs, county health inspectors noticed that the screen material then disappeared from the Round Bottom area by August 2020. They asked Evans employees for receipts to show where they had taken the debris, but say those receipts, “were insufficient to account for the missing (construction and demolition debris.)”

Health officials also saw scrap tires openly dumped on the Round Bottom site during inspections from 2014 through February 2021, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors say the open dumping of solid waste was still on the ground at three Evans locations when they filed the complaint in March.

Yost is asking a judge to ban Evans from accepting any future debris or solid waste, to remove all waste from his property and to lawfully dispose of it. He also wants full access to Evans’ property so that health inspectors and the Ohio EPA can inspect it.

In response to the complaint, Evans denied the allegations in court filings. His attorney Matthew Allen did not respond to a request for comment.

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LEE WARD: Do hair styling, landscaping go hand-in-hand? | Lifestyles

A couple of weeks ago, we were still doing a little yard work. Well, I wasn’t. The guy I pay to do such things was doing my yard work. I called a friend who said he had been trimming shrubs at his house.

I continue to be surprised at him doing yard work. Normally, he’s not the outdoorsy type and he’s not crazy about manual labor, either. But for some reason, he takes to a little bit of yard work.

I told him I wouldn’t even know where to cut. He replied, “You just start cutting and you’ll see. It will reveal itself to you, like cutting hair. It’s mystical.”

That was the craziest explanation of gardening — and haircutting — I’ve ever heard.

But he cuts his own hair and it always looks the same to me. He also cuts his mother’s hair and, again, always looks the same. He studied botany in college, so maybe there is a link between haircutting and trimming shrubs.

I don’t pay a lot of attention to things like people’s haircuts. I give my full attention at work, so when I’m not working it’s difficult for me to muster the brain power to focus. My brain wants to relax.

Whereas I am terrible with plants, my husband wouldn’t allow me to tend his plants. Or the shrubbery. Or the yard. So I have little experience growing plants, except for the years I raised a vegetable garden with my grandmother and I suspect her extremely green thumb saved the harvest every year.

As for hair, I only dared to cut my own hair this year when I was concerned about going out and having a stranger breathe in my face. When I was a grade-schooler I cut my own bangs after getting bubble gum stuck in them and, of course, it was the week of school pictures.

In March, I just wanted the ends trimmed, and it was getting long. So I put my hair in a ponytail, held it out from my head and cut. It was fun, feeling the scissors crunch through the tendrils and seeing the final result: even ends. I was so excited, I decided I would start trimming my own hair, so every four to six weeks, I’d go through the same procedure, thinking I was getting spiffed up.

By late summer, I was more comfortable getting out, so I dared to get an actual professional haircut.

I told my stylist to take off whatever she need to jazz me up a bit. I never expect miracles.

She gasped when she began to cut. Just a little one, not meant to embarrass me, but to acknowledge that my hair looked like it was last trimmed wth pinking shears. (An aside: I used to beg my grandmother to cut my hair with pinking shears.)

My haircutting friend doubts this story, believing she was leading me to think it was worse than it was so I would spend money on haircuts.

I enjoy having someone fool with my hair. Plus, it’s good to get out and contribute to the local economy while also enjoying the company of other people. Finally, I can’t see the back of my head, and I have to trust someone.

(606) 326-2661 |

lward@dailyindependent.com

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Recruiting from the military for your landscaping business

Across the country, landscapers are reporting that labor remains a major challenge. That’s one reason why Environmental Management Inc. (EMI) headquartered in Plain City, Ohio decided to turn to the Department of Defense (DOD) SkillBridge Program. This program provides Service members an opportunity to gain civilian work experience during their last 180 days of service.

According to Joe Lewis, LIC, growth and development manager for EMI, it has been a great experience all around.

Lewis, who is a retired Marine himself, says that he learned about the program from Zach Rohr, who at the time, was nearing retirement after 24 years in the Marine Corps. He asked Lewis about coming to work at EMI as an intern.

“It’s really a win for everyone,” says Lewis. “The employer benefits by gaining an intern who is still being paid and receiving benefits from their active service. The service member who is transitioning out benefits by learning a new trade.”

During that six-month internship period, Lewis says that Rohr made an immediate impact.

“This was an individual who was retiring at the highest rank and had essentially become a master trainer,” Lewis says of Rohr. “He is someone who knows how to work with people, to build a team, and to train. These are skills that absolutely translated into his work here with us.”

Learning new skills

Lewis says that the time period where service members are transitioning out can sometimes be stressful. They might not feel like they have transferable skills. But he says that many of the things they’ve learned in the military make them excellent in the Green Industry.

“These are hard-working, highly trainable individuals,” Lewis says. “We can teach the skills they need to succeed in the Green Industry. But what’s great is that they already have that amazing work ethic and desire to win.”

Another thing that most service members also have, says Lewis, is the ability to adapt to stress.

“Generally speaking, most members of the military can handle stress—these are people who have been through some of the toughest conditions,” Lewis says. “They can definitely handle the fast pace of our industry.”

On top of that, Lewis says that most military folks are incredibly loyal.

“Veterans like us tend to be crazy loyal,” he says. “If you treat us well, you can be sure we’ll take care of you.”

More talent coming

Lewis says that EMI has been so happy with the program that they continue to use it. They’ve also brought in a Naval Lieutenant and a Navy Officer. And, they have a few Marines they’re currently looking at who are close to retirement.

“A program like this can really bring in some high-level talent,” Lewis says. “And then we can teach the landscaping skills. In the end, everyone wins.”

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Master Gardener: Landscaping with nature in mind | Lifestyles

Landscaping with nature in mind

The garden has been put to bed and is ready for a blanket of snow. The last of the garden ornaments are in storage, containers have been emptied, fall bulbs are planted and trees that didn’t find a home are healed in. Fences to keep hungry critters from nibbling on new trees have been erected. The gardener and garden are ready for a rest. The ladybugs, bumble bees, fireflies and butterflies are also at rest, finding shelter in leaves, old stems, rock piles, rotting logs and underground spaces. The birds that are spending the winter have been busy in the garden eating seeds left standing for them, checking out tree bark nooks and crannies for tasty insects and occasionally visiting the filled feeders and a heated water source.

I love my garden and I love it even more when it’s busy with singing birds, buzzing bees, blinking fireflies and butterflies gliding from flower to flower. This has been a work in progress for over 25 years. I started years ago trying to make my yard more appealing to birds as bird watching is another interest of mine. That got me interested in adding native flowering plants, grasses, and trees to help attract birds to the yard. I told visitors that the back of the yard was habitat, not garden, because people expected your garden to be weed free, no sign of insects and mulched. Wildflowers might not have been what they were looking for. Everyone wanted to ooh and ahh your hostas, daylilies, and plants whose origins were from far away.

And what about your lawn? You let your dandelions bloom? You don’t wipe out every weed that dares to grow? How come it’s not perfectly shorn and short? I call that the lawn syndrome. Americans have a love affair with the perfectly groomed lawn. No room for birds or bees there. Considering that residential yards account for 25 to 60{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of the total green space in US cities, maybe we need to change our tune a bit. A 2014 study showed that homeowners who mowed their lawns once every 2 weeks (vs once a week) had a 60{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} increase in bee species. Those who mowed once every 3 weeks had a 300{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} increase in bee species. Not mowing allows those small “weeds” to bloom. Some of those flowers are especially helpful to bees that come out in early spring when nectar and pollen sources are limited.

The state of Minnesota has started a “Lawns to Legumes” program. They are encouraging the installation of pollinator-friendly native plantings in residential lawns. They are even willing to pay homeowners to help share the cost of establishing pollinator habitat in their yards. Why? Maybe it is because Minnesota’s state bee, the Rusty Patched Bumblebee, has been listed as endangered. In the last 20 years its population has declined by 87{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} and it is probably only still found in 0.1{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} of its historical range (which includes New York).

Why should you care that one bumblebee is in decline? Unfortunately, it’s not just one. Many insect populations, including bees, butterflies, fireflies and other beneficial insects have been in decline worldwide. Two common reasons are habitat loss and pesticide usage. Since most people think that all insects are pests or a nuisance this doesn’t sound like any reason to be alarmed, but insects play a greater role in ecosystems. They pollinate plants, not just our food plants, but native plants that provide food for many wild animals and birds. They are also food for many birds, reptiles, bats, and other animals. Many insects are decomposers or even predators of actual insect pests. We need insects.

Fortunately, most insects don’t need acres upon acres to thrive. Many native bees never travel more than a couple hundred feet from their home nest. Making changes to an area the size of your yard, or a portion of your yard, can have a huge impact on local insect populations. One place to start is to include native plants in your garden. Native plants support native insects as they evolved together. Many of the ornamental plants that have become standards in landscape plantings don’t support our native insects as there is no history between them. Some of these ornamental plants have also become invasive and have invaded what is left of our “wild” areas.

Just like our garden plants, not all native plants will grow just anywhere. It still comes down to the “right plant in the right place.” There are native plants for dry, sandy, sunny conditions just as there are native plants for shade or wet, soggy spots. Spend the winter doing some research on what native plants would be at home in your yard. If you have room, add a native tree to your yard. Trees give you a lot of bang for your buck. They can support a lot of caterpillars (baby bird food) and you’ll hardly notice if leaves are chewed on. If space is limited, concentrate on native plants that bloom in the fall. This is an important time of year, especially for bumblebee queens as they get ready to hibernate and it is an important time of year for migrating Monarch butterflies. Both need plentiful flowers to provide much needed nectar supplies.

Unfortunately, many will see your new habit as “messy” because it doesn’t conform with their vision of what a garden or lawn should be. You’ll probably have to educate your friends, family and neighbors. Try hanging a pollinator habitat sign in your front yard to announce to all that your garden is a haven for bees, butterflies and beneficial insects to forage, nest and spend the winter. Before you do a large conversion, check your local ordinances. In some areas there are height restrictions to observe and even restrictions against what you can plant in your front yard. Hopefully past aesthetic tastes will catch up with the fact that we need pollinators and other insects. Make 2022 the year you started to share your landscape with the little things that make the world go round.

Resources for this article include: Lawns to Legumes, Homegrown National Park, and OSU Pollinators in the City series (Policy Dimensions of Insect Pollinator Conservation).

Orleans County CCE will be offering Master Gardener training in 2022 for anyone interested in becoming an MG volunteer. This will be a new hybrid training, a combination of online and in-person classes. Training will start Jan. 13 and end April 7. Registration deadline is Dec. 22. Cost for the training is $200, but there is a 50{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} discount for the first 10 people to register. If internet accessibility is an issue, participants can utilize office hours at the Orleans County CCE Education Center. For more information or to register, contact Katie Oakes at (585) 798-4265 ext 125 or email klo54@cornell.edu.

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Wildfire Resilience and the Role of Landscapes

Facility Maintenance Decisions

An expanded fire season has underscored the need for ongoing vigilance in planning, preparation, and maintenance.



wildfire resilienceFrom landscaping selection to vegetation management plans, managers should take positive actions to reduce the overall wildfire risk for their facilities.




In 2021, more than 46,000 wildfires scorched more than 5 million acres of land. Many of these fires have happened outside of the traditional fire season, which is September and October. 

The expanded fire season has underscored the need for ongoing vigilance when it comes to wildfire resilience planning, preparation, and maintenance by institutional and commercial facilities. Understanding the vulnerability of a facility extends beyond just the building and its contents. It includes the landscaping and hardscaping around its property. 

A building’s first line of defense against an approaching wildfire is its surroundings. A building’s defensible space divides into three zones and is the area between a building and an approaching wildfire, where the facility maintenance team can manage vegetation and other combustible materials to minimize the chance of ignition and fire spread. 

The team needs to manage this space and its contents to retain protection year-round. Landscaping with fire-resistant plants is essential to making a meaningful reduction in the wildfire risk to a facility, but there is no guarantee this effort will eliminate all risk. 

Ignition issues 

Zone One is located within 5 feet of the building and is often referred to as the building ignition zone. The objective of activities in this zone is to reduce the chance that ignition of combustible materials by embers will result in direct flame contact with the building. Because this zone is closest to the building, it requires the most careful selection and intensive management of vegetation and materials. Managers need to: 

  • Install hard surfaces in this zone, such as a concrete walkway, or use noncombustible mulch products, such as rock mulch. 

  • Remove dead plant material from vegetation. 

  • Plant acceptable landscape vegetation in this zone, including irrigated lawn and low-growing herbaceous — non-woody — plants. Shrubs and trees, particularly conifers, should not be used in this zone, and vegetation that could overhang the roof can lead to buildup of flammable debris on the roof. 

  • Limit plant selection to varieties that grow no more than 12 inches in height If the facility has noncombustible siding, such as fiber-cement and the decision is to have plants in this zone. Workers must water and care for vegetation in this zone as any plant can become highly flammable if it is dead, dried out, or not well maintained. 

Suitable plants for this zone include creeping phlox, jellybean plants, and Mexican hen and chicks. It is important to note that each of these plants thrive in USDA Hardiness Zones 9 through 11 and have a maximum height growth of 8 inches. For additional plants suitable for wildfire-prone locations, managers can consult the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) Wildfire Ready landscaping guide for businesses. 

Vegetation management 

Zone Two, located within 5-30 feet of the facility or to the property line, is where vegetation management is important to prevent fire from climbing into the upper portions of trees or shrubs, and to stop the fire from burning directly to the building. Trees and shrubs in this zone should be in well-spaced groupings and well maintained. 

Eliminating ladder fuels that can allow fire burning in low-growing vegetation to reach taller vegetation, and creating separation between plants or plant groupings, are effective techniques to fulfill this objective. These techniques include: 

  • Dead plant material and tree branches should be removed on a regular maintenance schedule. 

  • Create islands or groupings of vegetation that will result in a discontinuous path of vegetation, making it difficult for the fire to burn directly to the building. Embers still might be able to ignite individual islands of vegetation in this zone. 

  • Remove lower tree branches and nearby shrubs — ladder fuels — so a surface fire cannot reach the tree crown. Trees located within this area should be maintained with a minimum horizontal spacing of 10 feet between crowns. Branches should be removed from the bottom one-third of the tree height. 

  • Paved parking areas surrounding commercial developments can serve as fire breaks, preventing the fire from burning directly to buildings. The building would still have to maintain design features that minimize vulnerabilities to an ember exposure. 

Suitable plants in this zone include blue glow agave, hosta lily, and sun roses. It is important to note that each of these plants thrive in different USDA Hardiness Zones and have different maximum height growth, with the tallest at 36 inches. 

Slowing the roll 

Zone Three, located within 30-100 feet of the building or property line, has the main goal of slowing down the fire and reducing its energy. Maintenance tactics include: 

  • Tree and brush spacing should force the fire in the tree or shrub crowns to drop to the ground. 

  • Trees should be spaced a minimum of 10 feet between crowns. 

  • Tree branches should be trimmed so they do not hang below 10 feet from the ground. 

  • Dead trees, leaves, and shrubs should be removed. 

Suitable landscaping in this zone can include taller trees and bushes. Some examples that are hardy in USDA hardiness zone 3 through 8 are Canada red chokecherry, green ash and Kentucky coffee tree. 

In addition to selecting the proper landscaping, managers should consider developing a vegetation management plan that provides details and pictures about topography — slope and aspect — location of buildings on the parcel, proposed fuel treatment details and location, presence of noxious weeds on site and in the vicinity, environmentally sensitive concerns — e.g., threatened and endangered species, as well as state-listed sensitive species and wetlands — and vegetation maintenance and monitoring programs. 

The plan also should provide information on the way workers will develop and maintain the three defensible space zones. Managers should integrate the vegetation maintenance plan into their facilities inspection and maintenance plans. IBHS recommends doing inspections at every season change and after significant weather events. 

From landscaping selection to vegetation management plans, managers should take positive actions to reduce the overall wildfire risk for their facilities. Working together with neighboring facilities can create a more resilient community. While managers cannot fully eliminate the risk of wildfire, together they can help reduce the damage and overall downtime of businesses. 

Chris Cioffi is a commercial engineer with the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. 

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