Lot clearing and brush mowing in Smith Valley, NV

Smith Valley, which takes in Smith and Wellington along the West Walker River, is the most thinly settled place we serve. The census area is about 102 square miles for about 1,000 housing units. Our yard is about 55 miles away, about 80 minutes without traffic.

At a glance

• About 90% of buildings in the direct wildfire exposure zone
• About 64% of homes built in 2000 or later
• Home site, driveway and fuel break cleared in one trip
• Brush mower and masticating head on a tracked Bobcat

Why does a new acreage home need clearing from day one?

Because it is built into the fuel. About 64% of Smith Valley's homes date from 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024; a small population, so approximate), many on parcels that were range or pasture before. The Forest Service places 89.8% of buildings here in the direct exposure zone, and ranks risk to homes higher than 97.4% of US communities.

If you are building, have the pad and the 100 feet around it cleared together. If the house is already there, the same 100 feet is the place to start.

What is a fuel break, and where does it go?

A fuel break is a strip where brush has been mowed or ground down so a fire arriving from outside loses height and speed before it reaches something you care about. It is not bare dirt. On acreage it usually goes in three places.

1. Around the home and outbuildings, out to 100 feet, following the Living With Fire zones
2. Down both sides of the driveway, so you can leave and an engine can come in
3. Along the boundary or fence line on the side facing open range

Light sage and grass are mowed. Dense, woody growth and small trees are ground with the masticating head, which leaves a layer of coarse mulch on the ground. Masticating explains how that works.

What about windbreaks and trees near the house?

Rows of trees planted for shelter are worth keeping, and they need a different hand. Brush and dead wood under a row are cleared out, and the trees nearest a building are limbed up or thinned. That is pruning, covered on our page for tree trimming in Smith Valley. The arborist looks at both on the same walk.

Cold winters, little rain

The Smith 6 N station, about 6 miles from the valley's center point, averages 6.24 inches of precipitation a year (NOAA 1991-2020 normals), and the valley is in USDA hardiness zone 6b. Mowed sagebrush is slow to return in those conditions. Grass along a ditch or a field edge is the exception and may want cutting every year.

Fire perimeters on the record

Four perimeter records of 300 acres or more since 1980 have a mapped center within about 10 miles of the valley, among them the TRE Fire of 2012 (7,073 acres), Upper Colony in 2018 (1,201 acres) and Burbank in 2011 (1,113 acres).

One trip, planned ahead

Moving a track loader 55 miles is worth doing once. Walk the arborist to every area at the free estimate, including the far gate and the back fence, so the whole job is priced and done in a single mobilization.