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Residents get fire-wise tips at
RCD new facility grand opening
By Susan Hogoboom
The Alpine Sun
LAKESIDE — The Resource Conservation
District (RCD) of Greater San Diego County hosted an open house
and held a press conference and a ribbon cutting ceremony on
Friday morning, May 29, at its new facility in Lakeside. Dianne
Jacob, County Supervisor, Second District, County of San Diego,
was keynote speaker at the press conference, with Marty Leavitt,
RCD District Manager, as moderator.
RCD’s services include assistance in soil and water
conservation, soil sampling, watershed recovery, ecology
education geared toward children, assistance with community
gardens, and conservation of the water and earth.
Jacob contrasted today’s RCD services and contributions
to those of roughly a decade ago. The Board of Supervisors has
the authority to appoint RCD board members.
“We had an opportunity to make some changes on that
board, which we did,” she said.
Today’s RCD has grown and expanded its services, which
include community outreach programs. “What this facility
demonstrates and exemplifies is the culmination of some
significant changes in the conservation district,” Jacob said.
Unfortunately, despite fire being what Jacob calls, “a
way of life in San Diego County,” many are unaware of the RCD,
its benefits, contributions, programs and services to the
community.
“A lot of people don’t know how important the Resource
Conservation District is to the region, especially in the East
County area,” she said. Jacob noted that the RCD’s services are
needed year-round.
Ellen Malin from the office of Senator Dennis
Hollingsworth, 36th District, and Collin McGlashen from the
office of Assemblyman Joel Anderson, 77th District, each
presented Leavitt with a certificate of recognition in honor of
the grand opening.
During the open house, representatives associated with
the RCD were on hand to answer questions regarding fire safety.
Chris Blaylock is an independent consultant who works
with the RCD. He emphasized the importance of homeowners
reducing their fire risks, and encourages what is now referred
to as fuel reduction, chipping, or vegetation thinning. The
county would like to see the term “clearing” phased out.
“People kind of took that to mean you clear
everything,” Blaylock said, which can have very negative
effects.
“When you clear down to bare mineral soil, you create
erosion problems, you decrease the habitat values, and you tend
to promote weeds,” he said. These weeds tend to be thin, light
colored grasses; what Blaylock refers to as, “light, flashy
fuels.”
Homeowners must be mindful that proper fuel reduction
does take research and knowledge.
Blaylock said good sources are local fire jurisdictions; the
San Diego
County Master Gardener Association, which offers free
gardening and pest control advice; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, and the Firewise Exhibit at the
Water Conservation Garden at
Cuyamaca College.
“It’s strategic. It’s removing a little bit here, a
little bit there to break up the continuity of the fuels rather
than just clearing it all out,” said Blaylock.
This process also leaves room for firefighters to
access the area easily to battle a fire, should one break out.
“If you do have firefighting resources present, they
are more likely to get in there,” Blaylock said.
According to RCD, ice plants are no longer recommended.
“What we are finding is the roots are very deep, so they don’t
dig in and you end up having landslides,” Blaylock said.
Instead, he recommends native ground covers. “Natives
know how to thrive in this arid environment. They keep higher
fuel moisture, a higher heat moisture, even in dry seasons, so
when a fire does come, the plants that are dry — those are the
ones that go first,” he said.
The RCD facility’s surrounding landscape provides a
great example of a limited fuel environment, with about half the
plants being natives and the other half being drought resistant,
according to Jim Park, lead designer and certified arborist, who
Leavitt refers to as their “plant guru.” Trees on the acre of
property are of medium water-use but provide shade, thus
reducing energy use. The new facility is energy efficient and
board members have the goal of net-zero energy use.
Faith Berry, a coordinator of the Fire Safe Council of
San Diego County, a program of the RCD, offered tips on how to,
what she calls “hardening up your home.” She recommends having
boxed eaves, dual-pane windows, putting covers on rain gutters
to prevent debris build-up, and keeping 100-feet of defensible
space, as required by law in wildfire areas.
Berry also wants increased awareness of the Fire Safe
Council and its services, which include no-cost chipping
services, either on-site or at a designated location during a
community chipping day. The property owner may either take the
resulting wood-chip mulch or leave it for others to pick up free
of charge.
With the opening of the new RCD facility comes
consolidation. The district’s El Cajon and Escondido offices
will close at the end of June.
As Jacob mentioned in the press conference, funding is
crucial to keep RCD’s badly needed services continuing and
expanding. From the U.S. Forest Service (USFC), it will receive
$4,175,650 dollars for this year the FSC.
For more information on RCD, visit
www.rcdsandiego.org.
For more information on the Fire Safe Council, visit
www.firesafesdcounty.org.
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