Fuel Reduction Methods

Listed below are some of the tools for vegetation management in Nevada County.

• Hand Removal - To remove brush by hand you will need a sturdy pair of loppers, gloves, and a chainsaw. Hand removal works well for smaller areas, limbing trees, and removal of small trees and shrubs. Although hand removal is labor-intensive, it has a lower impact on the soil and ecosystem. Material removed by hand may be disposed of through chipping, pile burning, or transporting it to the County Transfer Station.
• Livestock -
  With adequate time and numbers, you can reduce or remove “ladder fuels” using livestock. If you own a dangerously brushy site and need immediate results, you should manually or mechanically clear all or part of the site, and use your animals to maintain fire safety. Goats are the best all-around “groundskeepers.” They can be managed to either reduce or eliminate brush, low tree limbs, blackberries, poison oak, weeds, and ladder fuels. They will also eat grasses and clovers. They can be used to open up a brushy site, or they can be allowed to kill the brush by girdling it. You may have to cut and remove large dead stems, but girdled brush does not re-sprout so you have to do it only once. Animals do require good fencing, usually electric.
• Mechanical/Heavy Equipment - On larger parcels it is more economical to remove brush by mechanical methods, such as bulldozing or using a masticator. When bulldozing brush, be sure to take precautions against erosion that can occur by exposing bare soil. A masticator is a large piece of equipment that shreds brush with a spinning blade. Hand clean-up is usually needed to reduce the rough appearance of masticator work.
• Prescribed Burning - This is the application of fire to wildland fuels, when conditions such as weather, fuels, and topography allow the objective to be accomplished safely. Prescribed fire is used for limiting impacts of catastrophic wildfire though management of chaparral, reducing fuel loads adjacent to structures, wildfire enhancement, protecting woodlands through understory burning, providing increased forage for cattle and wildlife, and the removing of unwanted or exotic species. Remember, only an experienced professional should attempt to conduct a prescribed burn.