permaculture

[Rain Tenaqiya <raincascadia@yahoo.com>]

In the Designer's Manual, Mollison refers to hedgerows as potential 
firebreaks.  Does anyone have any experience with this and have 
recommendations for the design of such a firebreak in a grassland with high 
winds?
 
My own idea is to use Rhus ovata, which is an evergreen, "fire-retardant" 
shrub native to California (with close relatives in the Mediterranean).  
Ideally, I would plant multiple rows, but that probably will not happen soon. 
 My hope is that they would shade the grass out beneath them, robbing the 
fire of fuel, while the leaves would not be able to transmit the flames to 
the other side of the hedge.  It would also function as a much-needed 
windbreak.  The hedge would come as close as 50 feet to my house, so my fear 
is that the hot wind would dry out the hedge and then catch fire, spreading 
to the managed landscape between it and the house.
 
Thanks,
 
Rain
 



>From jakebucy@gmail.com  Thu Mar 26 15:51:17 2009
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I know Rain was looking for information about hedgerows, but I've recently
been reading about Holistic Management.  I don't have any personal
experience, but the photo in the link below clearly shows the potential of
using the planned grazing of animals to create a healthy grassland
firebreak.  Hope it helps.

http://www.holisticmanagement.org/n7/Photo_library/pl17_AustraliaFire.html



Good day,

Jake Bucy