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