In early November 2017, a group of UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County (UCMGSC) came together to plan how we could best help people who lost their homes in the devastating fires, and how we can now help educate our community at large about fire–wise landscaping.

We adopted the following definition, developed by Southern California UC Cooperative Extension offices after devastating fires, to guide our work: Firewise Landscaping supports creating and maintaining fire-resistant and sustainable landscapes in the wildland-urban interface. A fire-resistant landscape is an environment where plants and hardscape are maintained so that they do not easily transmit fire and where a defensible space reduces the risk of fire burning on your property.

Our UCMGSC team has developed a series of one page handouts on important Firewise topics and established a web page on the UCMGSC website for important Firewise information for homeowners.