Defensible Space Clearing
Dead brush, ladder fuels, weeds and dry grass cleared from the 100 feet around a home. The trees stay standing and the brush stays on the ground as mulch.
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Pebble Beach homes sit inside the Del Monte Forest, among Monterey pines and coast live oaks. Under the trees, the ground fills in with coyote brush, poison oak, blackberry and dry grass. Most of the forest is in the Very High class on the state's fire hazard map. The Pebble Beach Fire Department inspects homes for the 100 feet of defensible space that state law requires.
Cruz Land Management is based in Seaside on the Monterey Peninsula and works across Pebble Beach. Defensible space clearing comes first, then brush clearing, weed abatement, lot clearing and fire breaks. A masticating head on our compact track loader grinds brush, saplings and small trees into mulch where they stand. Call or text (831) 200-5377, and we will look at the property and put the quote in writing.
Tell us about the brush, the lot or the letter you got. We look at the property and put the quote in writing.
California's defensible space law, Public Resources Code 4291, asks for 100 feet around a building, up to the property line. The Del Monte Forest is State Responsibility Area, where that law covers every building. Zone 1 is the first 30 feet, and Zone 2 runs from 30 to 100 feet. In Zone 2, the state rule calls for annual grass cut to 4 inches and space between shrubs and trees.
Under the pines, most of that work is in the understory. The masticating head grinds the brush and small trees into mulch, and the mower cuts the grass down. The big pines and oaks stay standing, with open ground and a mulch layer below them.
Pitch canker, a fungal disease of Monterey pines, turned up at the Pebble Beach fire station site in 1992. It has since spread through the Del Monte Forest, and dying pines add dead fuel. Dead and larger pines are a tree service's work, and so is limbing.
The Pebble Beach Community Services District provides fire protection in the forest through a contract with CAL FIRE. CAL FIRE provides the personnel, and the district provides the facilities and equipment. The Pebble Beach Fire Department's residential fire inspections enforce the state's defensible space law.
The district's Fire Defense Plan was adopted in 1988 and revised most recently in April 2025. It treats the whole Del Monte Forest as wildland-urban interface. No part of its main open spaces sits more than a mile from a home. The plan calls for a yearly inspection of homes on Los Altos Drive and Costado Road, along Huckleberry Hill.
The state Board of Forestry lists the district as a Fire Risk Reduction Community through June 2028. California's Safer from Wildfires rule requires insurers that price wildfire risk to account for that listing. The same rule counts defensible space on your own lot. We clear to the standard, and the fire department does the inspecting.
Each year before July 1, the district's Fire Marshal lists the undeveloped parcels its vacant lot standards cover. On a lot under one acre, the standard applies to the whole parcel. On one acre or more, it covers at least 100 feet in from the boundary.
The standard calls for dry grass cut to 4 inches and dead fallen material cleared. Cut material can be chipped and spread on the lot or taken off it. Dead standing trees and low limbs are on the list too, and those go to a tree service.
We cut the grass with the brush mower and grind brush and small trees into mulch with the masticating head. That is vacant lot clearing, and the lot is left open and walkable. A lot that grows back each year can go on a seasonal mowing plan.
In 1987 the Morse Fire burned on Huckleberry Hill and destroyed 31 homes, per Monterey County's wildfire protection plan. The district's plan still names Huckleberry Hill as the forest's greatest fire hazard. Fire roads and fuel breaks now run along Haul Road and below Los Altos Drive.
The district thins its open space with a remote-controlled masticator on steep ground and goats on the grass. Its plan sets a shaded fuel break standard that keeps the trees and holds ground fuels under 18 inches. CAL FIRE's Pebble Beach Fuels Reduction Project lists mastication among its treatments.
We cut and maintain fire breaks and shaded fuel breaks with the masticator and the mower. HOAs can put common areas and perimeters on a seasonal vegetation management plan. We come over from Seaside on Highway 1 and Highway 68.
Communities and areas we serve around Pebble Beach: 17-Mile Drive, Huckleberry Hill, Pescadero Canyon, Spyglass Hill Road, Cypress Point, Spanish Bay, Stillwater Cove, Forest Lake Road, Stevenson Drive, Sunridge Road, Los Altos Drive, Bird Rock Road.
Pebble Beach ZIP codes served: 93953.
We come over from Seaside, look at the property and put the quote in writing.
(831) 200-5377 Dead brush, ladder fuels, weeds and dry grass cleared from the 100 feet around a home. The trees stay standing and the brush stays on the ground as mulch.
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We clear overgrown brush and poison oak off hillsides and fence lines. The masticating head grinds it into mulch where it stands, and the trees stay.
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We cut the dry grass and weeds on vacant lots, parcels, roadsides and lot lines before fire season. Send us a photo of your notice, and we put the quote in writing.
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We open up overgrown acreage, hillsides, ranch parcels and building sites with the masticating head and the brush mower. Brush and small trees become mulch in place, and the trees you keep stay standing.
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Our masticating head grinds brush and small trees into mulch where they stand. The ground is left under a mulch layer, and the trees you keep stay standing.
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We cut tall grass and light brush with a rotary brush mower on a compact track loader. Fields, pastures, road frontage and large lots get mowed once or every season.
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Fire breaks and fuel breaks cut along property lines, ridges, roads and driveways. Brush is masticated into mulch and grass mowed low, so a fire slows and crews have room to work.
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Vacant lots and ADU sites cleared to open ground. Weeds and grass are mowed, and brush is ground into mulch where it stands.
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We run seasonal vegetation management programs for HOAs, property managers, commercial properties and ranches. Grass is mowed and brush is masticated on a schedule built around notices and fire season.
Learn MoreA few of the questions we hear most around Pebble Beach. If yours is not here, call or text and ask.
Tell us where the property is and what needs clearing, and send photos if you have them. Call or text (831) 200-5377, or use the form, and we will get back to you.
Tell us about the brush, the lot or the letter you got. We look at the property and put the quote in writing.