Lot clearing and brush mowing in Golden Valley, NV

Golden Valley is a small community north of Reno: about 1,100 residents in fewer than 500 homes on about 3.6 square miles, nearly all of them owner-occupied (American Community Survey; a small place, so the figures are approximate).

At a glance

• 64.7% of buildings in the direct exposure zone, 0% minimal
• Poeville Road Fire (2020, 2,973 acres) mapped about 3.4 miles away
• About 3.6 square miles, fewer than 500 homes
• About 47 minutes from our Carson City yard

What is a fuel break on a home parcel?

A band of ground where the brush has been cut low or thinned so that a fire arriving from outside loses height and speed before it reaches the buildings. It is not a bare dirt road. On most parcels it is a mowed or masticated strip along the side that faces open country, tied into the driveway, a corral or another area that is already clear.

The USDA Forest Service places 64.7% of Golden Valley's roughly 1,150 buildings in the direct exposure zone and the other 35.3% in the indirect zone. For a directly exposed home the break is the piece of the plan that deals with flame, while the 5 feet next to the walls deals with embers.

Where should the break go?

The arborist asks which way the open ground lies and slopes, draws the break on the wildland side first and wraps it around outbuildings and propane, and the estimate states the width and method for each stretch.

1. The arborist asks which direction the open ground lies and which way the land slopes.
2. The break is drawn on the wildland side first, then wrapped around outbuildings, propane and anything else you want protected.
3. Trees inside the band are kept where they are healthy and spaced apart, with the brush beneath them removed.
4. The estimate states the width and the method for each stretch, so it can be repeated the same way in later years.

The University of Nevada, Reno Extension's Living With Fire guide gives the outer zone as 30 to 100 feet from the home. That range is the usual starting point for width, adjusted to the lot.

Mower or masticator?

Sagebrush, weeds and grass on open ground are brush mower work: fast, and it leaves fine clippings. Heavier stems, dense clumps and small trees call for the masticating head, which leaves coarse chips. Both attachments run on the same Bobcat, so a break that crosses both kinds of ground is cut in one visit.

A break has to be kept up. Woody brush stays down for years after it is cut, but grass and weeds return every spring. A rain gauge at the edge of the community (Reno 5.3 N) averages about 10.1 inches of precipitation a year in the NOAA normals, enough to green up a mowed strip each season.

What does the fire record around Golden Valley show?

The National Interagency Fire Center maps the Poeville Road Fire of 2020 at 2,973 acres, centred about 3.4 miles from the middle of Golden Valley. The Reservoir Fire of 1999 is mapped at 6,163 acres, about 3.6 miles away, and the Robb Fire of 2003 at 2,197 acres, about 4.6 miles away.

The Forest Service ranks wildfire risk to homes here higher than 96.7% of US communities.

Clearing for a barn, a shop or a second building

About half of the homes date from before 1980, and owners of established parcels add buildings over time. Lot clearing for an addition means brush rooted out of the footprint, any trees in the way removed, and the stumps ground or dug. Give the new building its own cleared ground from the start, and extend the break to take it in.