Tierrasanta - Fire Safe Council
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2.3 Million Dollar Brush Management Grant Article -2008

What to Expect at the Completion of Brush Management in Your Area

Ideally, brush thinning performed by the contractor in the City-owned open space will reflect that 50% of the native brush has been thinned to a natural look from the brush or grass that stood before. The exception is when an area already has a natural spacing that meets the requirements of the Bulletin #1 of the City of San Diego’s Brush Management Guide at http://www.sandiego.gov/fireandems/pdf/brushpdf.pdf. This will rarely be the case in mature communities such as Tierrasanta since native and non-native grasses will usually be present up to 3 feet or more in height. In this case, if possible, all grasses will be trimmed to six inches in height but may look as if it had been trimmed to the ground because of the tramping or breaking of dead material. Some areas may have excessive amounts of non-native plants.

Large brush, e.g., lemonadeberry and toyon evergreens will be limbed up if possible to form multi-trunked trees. Naturally these plants, especially the lemonadeberry may expand growth along the ground 20 to 40 feet or more in all directions from the rooted segment and tend to spread with the slope. They will grow to more than 8 feet in height. 

In areas of dense brush stands the growth along the ground is most evident because they tend to grow into each other. Significant portions of the horizontal growth can be removed from this brush exposing an area of earth surrounding the brush that appears to be thinned excessively or ‘cleared’. In these areas there sometimes may be thick duff or leaves from the years of accumulated dead foliage that will remain as ground cover

This cover should be left undisturbed if possible as it is a natural a mulch that helps prevent erosion and impedes the growth within a few years of non-native grasses and weeds. In areas within the north eastern part of Tierrasanta near MTRP more stumps of brush may be noticeable due to the number of burned brush and trees left from the Cedar fire. Crews have been removing the skeletons of this brush.

City crews hope to maintain these thinned areas in two-year cycles. With the dense brush and trees being currently addressed the task should consist of light limbing of brush and tall grass removal.

A noticeable characteristic of thinned areas where trees have been felled for safety or overlapping canopy reasons may be the presence of logs that are greater than 10-inches in diameter. These logs are left on the spot while avoiding trail blockage to help support habitant and help prevent erosion on sloped areas. The removal of trees with little undergrowth and limbing-up of trees can also make it appear as if there is more than 50% thinning.

The brush crews will shred tree branches and eucalyptus suckers. Most shredded material will be distributed up to six inches on wide portions of the open space to help retain moisture and prevent re-growth and erosion. Areas that are not accessible to trucked-in shredding equipment all cut materials are required to be hand carried to the streets for shredding and removal.

Brush and weeds are at times packed in white tarps for transport to a location for shredding or removal. In most cases these packages are removed within the day but in some cases they may be left in the open space for up to a week if awaiting personnel and equipment for removal.

After final cleanup of an area, the environmental contractor inspects the site to determine if the abatement meets the 100 foot defensible space requirements. The inspector also marks the areas with photo points for later mapping of Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates for future brush management efforts. The environmental contractor may identify these locations, boundaries, sensitive plant or animal habitant, or property lines with pink markers or flags. It is important that these markers are not removed or disturbed. In some cases further work will be needed especially if the 100 foot defensible space limits have not been reached

Complete brush management guidelines may be found in Bulletin #1 of the City of San Diego’s Brush Management Guide at http://www.sandiego.gov/fireandems/pdf/brushpdf.pdf.