How pruning helps birds and prevents wildfires in Sonoma County

Now is the time to prepare for this year’s fire season by pruning and trimming around your home with an eye to both fire readiness and wildlife habitat. Yes, now, in the middle of winter, before March 1. By early March, birds will be nesting and breeding in the vegetation and it’s best not to disturb them.

There are other good reasons to prune in the winter season. Many plants are dormant now and it’s cool outside, so the work is more pleasant than in summer. But most important, birds such as quail, goldfinch, junco and others nest on the ground or in shrubs and tall grasses. If you look closely, you’ll find towhee nests in low forks ?(3 to 12 feet high), shrubs or small trees, including live oak, ceanothus, coffeeberry, even poison oak and many ornamentals.

Cornell Labs, a preeminent source of bird research, says California quail “typically hide their nests on the ground amid grasses or at the bases of shrubs or trees. The nest is usually a shallow depression lined with stems and grasses and often placed near vegetation or rocks for protection. Nests range from 5 to ?7 inches across and 1 to ?2 inches deep.”

You can provide a welcome home for the quail, our state bird, by respectfully timing your fire-wise vegetation management. That means doing it before the beginning of March when nesting starts. That leaves you a little more than a week to knock it down.

Many government entities, including Sonoma County, require that homeowners maintain a “defensible space” within a radius of 100 feet around the home. This doesn’t mean removing all trees and vegetation in that space, but rather removing highly combustible materials, dead vegetation and ladder fuels. Pruning dead branches from trees and shrubs, increasing vertical spacing between shrubs and the lower limbs of trees and creating islands of shrubs with space between to interrupt the movement of fire are key fire-wise strategies.

Along with proper vegetation management, “home hardening” - which includes installing noncombustible roofs and decks, among other fire-resistant features - is considered the most effective thing you can do to protect your home from fire. In a fire-prone environment such as Sonoma County, both steps are important. But for the sake of our local wildlife, good timing is key.

A team of local experts, including from Sonoma Ecology Center, Sonoma County UC Master Gardeners and Habitat Corridor Project, has been working on the subject of fire-smart, water-wise and wildlife-friendly landscaping. Watch for more information and workshops, coming soon.

Ellie Insley, a Glen Ellen resident, is a landscape architect and board member of Sonoma Ecology Center.