Can you help with fire mitigation for a community or a large parcel?

What the work is

For acreage the machines do most of the volume: a masticating head grinds brush and small trees in place, and a brush mower cuts and mulches growth across open ground. Hand crews work near buildings and on steep ground where machines cannot go. Trees are thinned, limbed up and, where dead or crowded, removed. See mastication, brush mowing and hand clearing.

The arborist chooses the method by slope, density and what is nearby.

Scope it with the right numbers

Describe the acreage, the slope and the fuel, such as sage, grass, pinyon, juniper or pine. UNR Extension's guide ties the distance to manage to slope and fuel, and says that if the zone reaches past a property line, owners should ask neighbors to work together. That is how a whole community usually approaches it.

Fire districts run evaluations and, in places, hand crews and fuel reduction projects: the North Lake Tahoe district lists fuels management and fuel reduction projects, and Tahoe Douglas lists programs for fire adapted communities. The Nevada Division of Forestry also supports Fire Adapted Nevada and Firewise USA.

Next steps for a board or manager

Get the district's evaluation first if one is offered, then ask us to price the work against it. Estimates are free, detailed and tailored to your site.

Say who the decision maker is, and whether the HOA board must approve; our HOA and property manager page has more. Builders with land to clear can read lot clearing for builders and landowners. Call 775.232.8243.

Large parcels are often best done in phases: the area nearest buildings first, then the outer zone. Phasing also spreads the work across seasons, which fits the guidance on late fall and winter thinning in pine. The arborist will lay out phases on the estimate.