Lot clearing and brush mowing in Silver Springs, NV

Silver Springs spreads around the junction of US 50 and US 95A, west of Lahontan Reservoir. Its census area is about 72 square miles for about 2,650 housing units, which works out to roughly 17 acres of land per unit with open desert counted in.

At a glance

• 67.3% of buildings in the direct wildfire exposure zone
• Roughly 17 acres of census land per housing unit
• About 56% of homes are manufactured homes
• Home site, driveway and boundary mowed as one job

How can two in three buildings be directly exposed?

Because homes here stand alone in the brush. The USDA Forest Service puts 67.3% of Silver Springs buildings in its direct exposure zone, which means native vegetation runs up to the structure with no neighbor's cleared yard in between. That is one of the higher shares in Lyon County.

The overall rank is lower than in the foothill towns: risk to homes is higher than 87.2% of US communities. Desert brush is sparser than mountain fuel. But a home in the direct zone depends on its own cleared ground, because there is nothing else between it and a fire.

Which acres are worth mowing?

The ones within reach of the buildings and the road. UNR Extension's Living With Fire guide sets out its zones to 100 feet from the home, and it cautions that removing all vegetation can lead to more invasive weeds and cheatgrass. On a parcel of several acres, most of the ground can stay as it is.

• A full 100-foot circle around the house, thinned and mowed
• A separate cleared band around each shop, shed, corral and stack of stored material
• Both shoulders of the driveway from the county road to the house
• A mowed strip along the boundary that faces open desert
• The site of any future building, so it does not need clearing twice

The arborist paces this out with you at the free estimate and marks it, so the operator knows exactly where to stop.

Homes, woodpiles and what sits next to them

About 56% of housing units in Silver Springs are manufactured homes, and about 15% of households heat mainly with wood (ACS 2020-2024). Both facts point to the first few feet. Tumbleweeds against the base of a home, a woodpile beside the porch and sage growing under a deck are what the hand crew deals with before the mower starts on the open ground.

Clearing a pad on raw land

Raw parcels are still being set up for homes here; about a third of the housing stock dates from 2000 or later. A pad job covers the home site, the driveway line, the septic field and the well and power routes. Brush is mowed or masticated, any trees and stumps come out, and what cannot stay as ground cover is hauled.

Ask Lyon County what it requires for grading and placement before work begins. Buried lines should be marked through 811 before any digging.

Mapped fires

Six perimeter records of 300 acres or more since 1980 have a mapped center within about 10 miles. The nearest is the Piper Fire of 2018, 314 acres, centered about 3 miles away. The Ramsey Fire of 2000 is mapped at 7,621 acres.