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- Info
A homeowner's guide to fire and watershed management at the chaparral-urban interface
| Author: |
Radtke, K.W.H. |
| Date: |
1982 |
| Periodical: |
County of Los Angeles, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service |
| Abstract: |
Several guides and booklets have been written to help the homeowner deal with particular aspects of living in the fire-prone wildlands of the Pacific Southwest. Until now, however, none has given the homeowner comprehensive advice on managing his property effectively so as to reduce the chance of wildfire and mudflow disasters and the hardships, both personal and financial, they bring. This booklet attempts to provide such advice in a practical, nonscientific, yet professional manner, through basic principles and guidelines. This booklet is based on and contains excerpts from the PSW General Technical Report Living More Safety at the Chaparral-Urban Interface, a guide to hillside property management for fire and watershed protection. Both publications were written by the same author under cooperative contracts between the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station (Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture) and the County of Los Angeles. They are based on research by the Forestry Bureau of the Los Angeles County Fire Department and the Forest Fire Laboratory of the Pacific Southwest Station in Riverside, California. They also incorporate state-of-the-art knowledge in various wildland disciplines, and the experience gained by the author in dealing with fire and floods in his work and as a homeowner at the chaparral boundary. The booklet first provides a brief description of the chaparral plant community, followed by sections describing some basic considerations of watershed and fire management- Later sections deal with improving safety around the home through -home design, landscaping, and maintenance; protecting oneself and one's property during a wildfire; and, finally, providing emergency treatment of hillsides after a fire. |
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