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December 10, 2021

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.

From 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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November 28, 2021

Check Out This Artbook On Game Landscapes By A Garden Designer

The forthcoming artbook by award-winning garden designer Rob Dwiar, Genius Loci: A Grand Tour of Video Game Landscapes and Gardens, will be fully funded with only a few more backers. Genius Loci was accepted for publication in April, 2021. The artbook is just about ready for print.

The term “genius loci” translates from Latin to “the spirit of a place.” This was a reference to the various gods and goddesses that were believed to inhabit particular groves and springs. The term is mostly used these days by architects and designers to describe the overall character of a location. This would be what Dwiar seeks to capture when it comes to video game landscapes.

“From rigorously designed palace gardens to expansive natural lands and from alien planets with weird and wonderful plants to terrains imbued with meaning and symbolism, an expansive range of landscapes can be explored, traversed, and enjoyed in games,” Dwiar says. In the tradition of eighteenth century tourism, he proposes to “guide readers on a journey across video game histories, geographies, and stories” while offering “detailed appreciation and analysis along the way.”

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Dwiar promises to “shed light on the background, history, typology, horticulture and botany, and landscape and garden design features,” revealing what “real-world traits and approaches can be found in each place to give a thorough journey across a multitude of games and places.”

Genius Loci will be a deep dive into environment art and level design. The point is to bridge the gap between what players are able to see in games and what they can see in the world around them.

“The landscapes, gardens, and horticulture found within video games have come on such leaps and bounds in the past few decades that there is much to talk about, look at, and get lost in. Real-life garden design features and approaches now feature in game design, accurate portrayal, use, and combination of plants finish landscapes to a beautiful degree of detail, environment design has deeper levels of meaning and narrative importance than ever, and even the most prominent and high-profile games can see players engage in horticulture. Genius Loci will see all of this and more explored through dozens of places and games.”

The artbook will showcase more than 40 gardens and landscapes from Dishonored and Dishonored 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, BioShock and BioShock Infinite, Mass Effect, The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Valhalla, Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us, Oblivion and Skyrim, Fallout 4, Death Stranding, Red Dead Redemption 2, Ghost of Tsushima, and several other games.

Genius Loci will be a full-colour, high-quality hardback with over 40,000 words across more than 200 pages. The artbook will feature upwards of 100 game photographs taken by Dwiar.

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I’m Sorry But Brock Would Totally Be Cancelled In 2021

Your drying pan won’t protect you from the wrath of societal cancellation, Brock.

‘Artificial Perceptions’ art exhibit showcases beautiful landscapes

From Nov. 1-23, there will be a solo art exhibition in the Wadsworth Relatives Gallery, featuring Art Office Chair Mark Swain’s work titled “Artificial Perceptions.” This showcases the representation of nature and portrays the play of light on a range of distinct surfaces.

“This is the very first opportunity that I genuinely had to paint in a though due to the fact I have been truly hectic with a large amount of other things I do here at Lewis,” mentioned Swain. “I did do some paintings, a number of several years again oil on concrete, like these are, and I seriously savored it.”

In the gallery, there are a complete of 19 oil paintings on concrete that took Swain a minimal in excess of two months to make and every one particular has a sizeable that means to him.

“The paintings are actually intended to sort of be any place the subject is depicting and naturally, there are mountains in some of them,” mentioned Swain. “They’re split about midway between Montana and Illinois.” Both of those of Swain’s small children stay in Montana and go to school there.

Swain mentioned that the paintings are not automatically about Montana or the Rockies. They’re definitely about minimal snippets of photographs. The paintings are all for sale, ranging from $600 to $800, but income is not the cause he created them.

“I comprehend why there are graphic designers for the reason that there is an software to the organization environment,” explained Swain. “They’re hired by businesses and they are compensated for what they do and this get the job done that I have is for sale, but that is surely not the cause why I created these paintings.”

When he appears to be at the photos he takes, he sees the potential of the horizon line above his head or off to the aspect. A whole lot of instances, he finds himself remembering the locations when he frequented himself.

“I bear in mind the really feel and search of the spot, but I usually get my inspiration from tiny areas of the photographs I get for paintings,” explained Swain. “I go again to the photographs and I discover the paintings in the photograph, if that can make sense.”

Right after graduating from Lewis in 1993 with a Bachelor’s in Art, exclusively portray, he went on to total his MFA in painting at Northern Illinois University.

“There’s just a thing about painting and I actually like optics, color, texture and imagery,” reported Swain. “In the extra intricate parts I do, I like the way light-weight hits surfaces, buildings and trees, and just how everyday living has an effect on the way we see factors, so which is a huge portion of what’s in the show much too.”

Everybody in the Lewis neighborhood must get the time to view his get the job done in the gallery for the reason that in the spirit of a liberal arts training and no matter of someone’s job at Lewis, any individual can acquire useful knowledge from viewing anyone else’s perform for a change.

“I believe that they should really arrive to seem at and appreciate what a fellow human staying takes advantage of painting for self-expression,” claimed Swain. “You can add to your selection of experiences that in the long run make you, in my impression, a extra professional and wiser particular person.”

On Nov. 18, from 7-9 p.m., there will be a gallery converse and reception in the Wadsworth Family Gallery that will attribute Swain speaking about his perform. College students who choose to go to it can gain Arts and Ideas credit history.

“The display has impressed me to want to paint extra,” claimed Swain. “I’ve genuinely liked portray and I really like possessing the demonstrate up right now.”

Photo Credit score: Katelyn Leano

October 24, 2021

The last book in an unplanned trilogy explores the enduring affection for people and landscapes

Guide of the 7 days

With deep sensation, F. Harlan Flint writes about numerous sides of really like in his new guide “From There to Eternity: Alzheimer’s and Over and above.”

There’s Flint’s enduring love for his spouse Chris in excess of 60 a long time of relationship. She battled Alzheimer’s, succumbing to the illness in 2016.

Sections of the book shift in time to tell about the maturing of a younger lady into a vibrant, useful grownup. She and Flint satisfied as learners at the College of New Mexico.

There’s his really like for his superior pal Baudelio Garcia. The two had been neighbors in the far northern New Mexico hamlet of Santa Rita. It was in which Garcia lived for much of the 12 months and exactly where the Flints had a straw-bale cabin they visited. As an instance of their friendship, Garcia aided make it.

Then in 2018 Flint suffered the decline of his buddy Garcia. He gave the eulogy at the funeral.

“For a large amount of adult males it is tough for us to aggressively explain lively appreciate,” Flint stated in a mobile phone job interview. “It’s an energetic force in my partnership with my wife, with Baudelio and with my affection for the Hispano folks primarily of the north… .” Baudelio, he mentioned, was the very last survivor of the Hispanics who settled Santa Rita into the early 20th century.

He writes affectionately about when he and his spouse to start with achieved Garcia “… he was a handsome youthful person in his 30s, not a tall male but he often stood tall. Irrespective of whether on a horse, a tractor, in his pickup, or on his ATV, his posture was always excellent and his bearing almost army. A male of couple words and phrases, he was dignified and reticent, but warm and friendly… .”

The description of Garcia helps make visitors feel that they much too are getting the same one particular-on-one fellowship that Flint experienced with the rancher-farmer. There is additional description of his buddy: He had a broad, quick smile, and was “as sturdy as a horse, completely ready to toss bales and calves in the course of the yearly branding season.” Spanish was Garcia’s to start with language and he spoke English cautiously.

A third expressive experience was Flint’s robust affection for the Hispanics of rural northern New Mexico.

To him, Garcia represented the pressure of Hispano individuals “who had the tenacity to carve out a subsistence living in a extremely complicated location – no running water, no electric power. They were being the final pioneers of New Mexico, moving out from Santa Fe to come across the rivers in the north.”

They had been in lookup of drinking water.

Amongst the Hispanos the Flints got to know had been the welcoming individuals who ran and labored at the Mesa Vista Cafe in Ojo Caliente. The pair commonly stopped to try to eat there on the way from their household in Santa Fe to Santa Rita and on the way back.

A fourth expression of Flint’s love is for the purely natural landscape of Santa Rita, the patria chica, or smaller homeland, in Rio Arriba County. The group is at the southern close of the San Luis Valley. The nearest city is Antonito, Colorado.

A single unforgettable, prolonged passage tells of Flint possessing taken a gradual ride up the river to commune with character: “On the viewpoint wherever I paused, I was surrounded by gigantic ponderosas and spruce, some previous plenty of to have been there when the position was employed seasonally by its previously occupants, the Utes, the Navajos, and Apaches… .”

Later, back again on his porch, Flint observes: “…with the lengthening shadows of late afternoon, I listened to the river, the visiting piñon jays, the resident stellar jays competing at the feeder. What a privilege and pleasure it was to be there, a transient human, enjoying the reward of currently being a short term occupant of this exclusive minor earth …”

Flint very carefully gathers penned terms that seem to efficiently raise off the webpage to make his remembered experiences magical for audience.

Is the ebook a memoir? Flint finds it tricky to utilize that label. Possibly a quasi-memoir, he said.

The book’s title, Flint commented, is whimsical, and is based on the title of the novel (and film) “From Right here to Eternity.” The “From There” part of his book’s title derives from when Chris “was herself to the period of time of her drop and on into the long run. It appears to significantly describe the path of the ebook,” the 91-yr-previous Flint stated.

He now sights “From There to Eternity” as the third quantity of a trilogy.

“The (volumes) did not start out that way. They developed organically,” he mentioned.

The to start with e-book, “Hispano Homesteaders: The Past New Mexico Pioneers, 1850-1910,” came out in 2012. Nevertheless some historians say the outer limitations of the Hispano homeland was defined by the 1860s and 1870s, Flint argues that Hispanic homesteaders continued to generate new settlements into the very first decade of the 20th century.

The 2nd guide, released in 2016, is “Journey to a Straw Bale Home: The Extended Highway to Santa Rita in an Aged Spanish Neighborhood on the Northern Edge of New Mexico.” It expanded on Flint’s developing ties to the people today of Santa Rita.

October 7, 2021

How Oregon gardeners can adapt their landscapes to changing climate

This yr, Oregon gardeners have observed a shift from the state’s traditional Mediterranean climate. Severe weather ailments, ranging from an ice and windstorm to a record-breaking heatwave, have wreaked havoc on landscapes and gardens.

As the local weather proceeds to change, there are techniques gardeners can apply to better adapt, secure and put together their crops for other serious, incoming situations.

“There’s excellent proof that local weather modify is happening and impacting factors here in Oregon on a broad scale, and it involves, particularly, bigger and bigger probability of excessive climate events. And we’ve viewed some illustrations of that just lately,” explained Weston Miller, local community and urban horticulturist for Oregon State University Extension Services and Multnomah County Grasp Gardener Program manager.

Miller will handle such events and their consequences in “Adapting Your Backyard and Landscape for Climate Modify,” a digital course on Tuesday, Oct. 12. (Sign up listed here for the cost-free function.) The presentation is element of the Escalating Oregon Gardeners: Level Up Sequence by means of the OSU Extension Assistance Master Gardener Plan.

Historically, the local weather west of the Cascades is made up of moist, cool winters and scorching, dry summers, Miller claimed. When drought transpires seasonally and is to be anticipated, he explained springs and summers have been drier and snow is melting a lot quicker.

Oregon is “leaning to regional scale drought that you’re commencing to see in California already,” he claimed.

Greg Shepherd, co-proprietor of Xera Crops in Portland, claimed that Oregon’s climate is altering more rapidly than a lot of people today have been adapting to with their landscapes.

“A great deal of crops you would consider to be a great plant for whole sunlight and dry in Portland, the flowering currant for instance, they ended up really fried and destroyed,” he stated as he assessed the earlier summer time. “It’s just a little something which is happening so quick, a great deal of persons in the marketplace and gardeners are heading to be struggling to maintain up with what to do future.”

What we know about native vegetation is modifying

Hunting at indigenous vegetation and climate transform more than the past 50,000 yrs, Shepherd explained that several native plants have migrated as the local weather bit by bit adjusted. The issue now is that temperature and precipitation styles are switching more quickly than the crops can migrate.

An “important matter with indigenous plants for gardeners is supporting them adapt and preserve the populations right until they have a opportunity to migrate to where they’ll have to go in the long term,” he claimed.

When so lots of indigenous plants have been damaged through very last summer’s warmth dome, Paul Bonine co-operator of Xera Crops mentioned that it was a “big shock to everyone that the indigenous plants would have reacted that way.” As a end result, shoppers were commencing to rethink their landscapes.

“People are sick of watering,” Bonine said. “It’s costly and they want their landscapes to thrive, so they are having out a great deal of higher-h2o crops and changing them with vegetation that can get along with pure rainfall.”

Shepherd mentioned that each working day a shopper will come to Xera Vegetation seeking for lessen drinking water use crops. Even though he stated the answer “isn’t 100{6d6906d986cb38e604952ede6d65f3d49470e23f1a526661621333fa74363c48} distinct however,” individuals are on the lookout for qualities like warmth tolerance and drought resistance.

With the nursery’s concentrate on rising naturally local weather-tailored and West Coastline indigenous plants, Shepherd mentioned they are wanting at their products line and analyzing what they will proceed to increase and how they will increase their choices.

“There’s some attention-grabbing matters out there that we haven’t relied on, and this is starting to appear like a new actuality. People today are heading to want to experiment with items they know will do the job,” he reported.

Miller said he endorses people just take a extended perspective of their landscape and take into account the opportunity effects of extended drought and water limits that might be place in spot.

“I’d say people today who are both re-landscaping or changing vegetation, that they look at buying drought-tolerant vegetation in the initially area,” he claimed. “Drought-tolerant vegetation are ready to endure and bloom usually after an institution period, and continue to look quite superior even with out supplemental drinking water.”

Bonine provides that gardeners also should not be fearful to attempt new points in their landscapes.

“You have a good deal extra options than you feel to get the aesthetics that you want and nonetheless have it be small-water,” he stated.

Shepherd additional that it also does not have to be all cactuses: “You can basically have a lush looking garden that doesn’t require any use of drinking water if you plan your vegetation cautiously.”

Bonine claimed that right after this year’s intense temperature, gardeners will have to have to target on resilience in the potential.

“The least comprehended portion about gardening is the climate,” he claimed. “The local weather is going to be transforming really quick, faster than people today foresee and so we’re just heading to enjoy it by ear typically and see what transpires.”

8 actions gardeners can acquire to assistance plants and trees adapt to climate alterations

Prepare the soil. When planting, dig down deeply more than enough (a foot down for a 5-gallon shrub, for instance) and perform in compost so the roots have a thing to expand into. “When roots have greater proven root devices, they are better capable to extract drinking water,” Miller reported. “If men and women just dig a hole in their difficult, compact clay soil with no really getting ready a larger sized planting location, plants are often going to go through simply because the roots are shorted by the compacted soil.”

Look at plant locale carefully. Some backyard garden favorites, like hydrangeas, rhododendrons and azaleas favor shade Miller reported, and if they are planted in comprehensive sunlight they will be underneath a lot more anxiety. Generally, crops will show indicators of severe warmth when found on the southwest aspect of a residence or in an region struggling with a patch of asphalt or concrete. Gardeners can also select a lot more heat-tolerant species of their water-loving crops such as hydrangeas that can superior experience out warmth waves. Oak leaf and smooth hydrangeas are two species to take into consideration.

Back garden in zones. Shepherd implies gardening in zones by grouping with each other large-h2o and small-drinking water crops. He explained it is far more effective and will help constrict water use.

“So, say you want a lot more drinking water intense perennials, you team them in the vicinity of the hose as a substitute of putting them out,” he said. “Having perimeters of your home be reduced-h2o will make routine maintenance a good deal easier.”

Observe for freezing patterns in winter season. Miller explained with the unpredictability of local weather alter, it is not just acquiring crops that are drought tolerant, but cold hardy as nicely. “It may be truly heat all the way up to Thanksgiving and then it receives really chilly the subsequent week and the crops have not genuinely acclimatized,” he said, introducing that gardeners need to master to acknowledge the signals of chilly harm and consider a wait around-and-see method. “In 6 months, you can see if a little something is lifeless or not and then prune out dead stems at that time.”

Seem at drought-tolerant indigenous vegetation: Shepherd recommended manzanita, a West Coast native that is dry tailored and doesn’t like drinking water in the summer months, as well as other indigenous annuals that really don’t want summertime irrigation and assist area pollinators, these as clarkia, madia and gilia. One more great option is the serpentine sunflower, a Southern Oregon indigenous that seeds itself and does not require much summer time drinking water. He also advised bulbed crops these kinds of as the harvest lily. “Whether native or non-native, (bulbed plants) are acclimated to summer season drought,” Shepherd stated. “So they’re a superior matter to plant for that seasonal flowering with out the help that comes with a great deal of summer time perennials.”

Imagine Mediterranean for drought-tolerant crops. Miller explained to decide crops from decrease Mediterranean like climates, where herbs these types of as lavender, rosemary and thyme thrive. Other suggested plant origins include South Africa, south Australia and Chile. “Plants from those origins also are accustomed to that wet winter and summertime drought situation,” he claimed.

Deep watering. For trees like conifers and Western purple cedar that are enduring drought strain, Miller’s primary suggestion is to drinking water deeply each two weeks (during the dry year) to preserve trees wholesome. One facet impact that Miller has found in stressed trees is insect attraction and destruction, issues that can be prevented by maintaining trees balanced via deep watering.

Prune branches selectively. For the two conifers and deciduous trees, Miller advised removing branches that are destroyed or pruning to counteract the sail impact (wind drag), where by a trees’ foliage receives caught in the wind and weighs the tree down. That pruning can enable reduce hurt in circumstance of an ice or wind storm, he said. He also recommended coming up with a pruning system with an arborist.

Check with an arborist. When it comes to trees, Miller stated the first two points people must contemplate are fireplace hazard — particularly individuals at the urban-rural interface — and how a wind or ice storm would influence the residence. “I would most likely assume about proactively possessing an arborist arrive to one’s property and check out various issues,” Miller mentioned, including that this is a process that takes spot in excess of yrs and involves setting up a dependable relationship. “Trees feel like a fantastic concept on an city residence but they’re high priced to deal with,” he said.

— Aliya Corridor, for The Oregonian/OregonLive

Tag: landscapes