Fire safey in the forest-spring cleaning the underbrush

We live at the edge of the Prescott National Forest. Our March 2014 Homeowners Association Newsletter talks about what the natural habitat in such a forest is like and that is not what our yard was like. Reading the newsletter and a few other similar resources convinced me that it was time to do a spring cleaning in our yard. As I have cut away saplings and suckers, I discovered other stubs from such clean out in the past. However, it appears to be at least 5 years, if not more, since all this was cut away. That means some saplings have grown too fat for my loppers. I will have to hire someone with a chain saw to come in and cut away stubs.

 Most of the yard looked like this when I started. Solid shrubbery. The second picture shows

Two of my grandkids helped me stack everything that came out of this section.

some of that in the back, which I think is on my neighbor's property, with a mostly cleaned out area in front.

 

The area below was originally all scrub and now I can walk between the trees.

Out front, this was completely filled in with brush. Now I can even see the yucca that was hiding there.

This is the view of the same area from the other side.

These next portions in the back were so full you could not walk around. I will need help cutting some of the saplings that are still visible.

 

This is the largest brush pile. At its highest, it is about 5 feet tall.

I still have all the plants along this street to tackle, but everything in the rest of the yard is now in pretty good shape.

Our house was very secluded before I started this project. Now, it is a lot more visible. However, there is also significantly less fuel for forest fires. There were two very large fires in our area last year. The first was the Doce fire. It was in the forest just over the hill from our house. We were in a subdivision that had suggested but not mandatory evacuation during the first day of the fire. I loaded up the car with essentials hoping not to leave as the Pro was in Phoenix all day. Luckily, the fire shifted direction away from us.
A couple of weeks later, the Yarnell Hill fire broke out. That led to the loss of 19 firefighter lives. That was a little further away, so again we were lucky. Fire restrictions in the Prescott National Forest began on Friday, April 18. In order to better protect us, the forest service does planned burns in January and February. The forest is much healthier when there are regular burns. 

We cannot do that in our yard, so we must clean out the undergrowth manually. Many people do not. However, I would like our yard as fire safe as possible. I know there is a lot less fuel now (and I'm not quite done) and that feels good. Of course, that fuel is currently drying out along the street. Brush pickup is scheduled for May, so it will not be here long. I still have a couple of weeks to finish up the cleaning for this year.

After this year, it will be much easier to maintain. This year, I am playing catch up. It is very hard physical labor, probably a very good workout for me. I do it around 6:15 in the morning when it is in the 40s, and I still get very hot and sweaty. There is great satisfaction in accomplishing an area, and I have greater appreciation for those who worked the land in the past. This is really hard work.

Yard work was much easier when I didn't do any except in my raised beds. However, I think the yard is now more accessible, and provides less shelter for the critters in the area, encouraging them to move elsewhere. If I have no more javelina, rabbits, deer, or skunk eating my plants, I will be grateful. I have a lot less fuel for any wildfires to consume. And I am a lot stronger right now, too.