SAN DIEGO — California homeowners who live in high wildlife risk areas are teaming up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make areas safer while restoring habitat.
The view from his home is one of Bernie Simkin's favorite things about living along the San Dieguito River Valley. But he says two wildfires have come close to burning his home down, first in 2007 then in 2014.
“It is very, very threatening and fearsome. It’s just extremely hot, dusty, you can’t see anything from the smoke,” he said.
Simkin and other homeowners in the area teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to fight back against future fire danger.
“The first time in 2007, we had just finished construction on the home," Simkin remembers. "And we got the last helicopter drop of water for that evening that saved the home. Otherwise, it probably would have been gone.”
Along with other conservation groups like the California Native Plant Society and the San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy, among others, they worked to clear invasive species like Arundo donax (giant reed) and replace them with native plants, reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires while restoring habitat.
Jonathan Snapp-Cook is a biologist with the Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, which provides free technical and financial assistance to anyone interested in improving wildlife habitat on their land.
The Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program has helped 30,000 landowners across the U.S. to complete more than 50,000 projects, restoring more than six million acres of forest, prairie, wetland and stream habitat for wildlife.
“It’s really a big deal that we have like 30 or 40 homeowners that signed onto this project and allowed this work, even though it was funded," Snapp-Cook said. "It sounds like a good deal to have free work done on your property, but a lot of times, it still takes a lot of communication to make people feel comfortable to have others come and work on their property and to do a large project like this.”
Snapp-Cook says by removing invasive plants that produce highly combustible leaf litter, they're hoping to decrease wildfire intensity and shorten the number of fires that return while restoring a valuable wildlife corridor.
“Without the support of the homeowners, this area would have remained untreated, each homeowner would have chosen their own way and their own contractors to treat it, might have had to get their own permits," he said. "Help the homeowners with their concerns but also at the core of it produce or improve some wildlife habitat.”
Simkin believes their collaboration sets a great precedent for other communities in wildfire prone areas.
“Homeowners can work together with government agencies and with neutral third-parties to improve the environment, conserve the right species, reduce risks," he said. "We can’t just stand still and let it happen every year. We have to be proactive.”