[Scpg] Best permaculture design ideas for fire country?

[Bob Thorson]

Some natural historians maintain that California did not have a fire based ecology until the megafauna extinction coincident with the invasion of peoples over the Bering Strait.  The vegetation that co-evolved with the large herds of browsers and grazers (and their predators) rarely burned.  Also there were dams engineered and built by prehistoric beavers.  Deep rooted perennials and ponds ameliorated the droughtiness of summer.

It would be hard to bring back those beavers, mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers, but we can build the right kind of dams and use well managed grazers and browsers to reduce fire based vegetation.  There are businesses renting out Boer goats to clear brush.  Certain heritage breeds of cattle are suitable too.

Allan Savory has more to say in his book "Holistic Management".

Bob
Deep Roots Ranch

-----Original Message-----
>From: LBUZZELL at aol.com
>Sent: Nov 16, 2008 1:47 PM
>To: sbperm2006 at googlegroups.com, sbogc at yahoogroups.com, Scpg at arashi.com, sbfoodfuture at googlegroups.com
>Subject: [Scpg] Best permaculture design ideas for fire country?
>
> 
>Hoping that  all who receive this are safe from the fires ravaging the South 
>Coast and  So Cal. 
>Today Gov.  Schwartzenegger admitted that because of global climate 
>disruption, Central and  Southern California now have an extended fire season  
>stretching from late February through December, instead of late June through mid  
>October as it used to be. And Jan and Feb are Flood season (if we're  lucky!) 
>What are some  of the most helpful design and planting ideas permaculture can 
>offer our  community in this changed situation, both at the individual 
>backyard level and  also for our whole town? Certainly we need to implement all the 
>permaculture  water harvesting strategies to lock moisture into our 
>landscapes, but what  else?  The mainstream media seems to be advocating a fairly 
>denuded,  barren, "scorched earth" landscape with little understory as the safest  
>approach -- what alternatives does permaculture have to offer? 
>I'm going to  compile a list of "best practices" and would love your input, 
>tips and  ideas! 
>Some examples  of possible kinds of ideas to include... the notion of 
>greenbelts of  heavily-watered avos and citrus protecting homes from wilder,  
>burn-prone outlying areas... the use of various water-holding plants like  sedum as 
>groundcover in backyard food forests.   
>Also it would  be good to address the issue of plants to avoid and plants to  
>include. 
>One thing I'm  very interested in is the bad rap the media and fire officials 
>are giving  eucalyptus trees.  Australian permaculture teacher Geoff Lawton 
>on his  recent visit urged us not to completely avoid all eucs as fire hazards, 
>but to  learn about cultivars that can be useful.  Does anyone know which 
>eucs are  a good thing to include in local landscapes, and which to avoid or even 
>cut  down?   
>Would love to  hear your thoughts... 
>Linda 
>
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