Defensible Space Clearing in Scotts Valley, CA

Redwoods, chaparral and dry grass around Scotts Valley

Scotts Valley is a city of about 12,000 people, six miles north of the city of Santa Cruz. Highway 17 is the main road in and out. Carbonera Creek, Camp Evers Creek and Bean Creek are its major creek corridors. A city environmental report names creekside woodland and ponderosa pine as key habitats, with local stands of redwood.

The 2022 wildfire plan for Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties places Scotts Valley in its Santa Cruz Central area. About 30 percent of that area is redwood and Douglas fir, and about 23 percent is evergreen hardwood. In the northern part, the plan describes mixed conifer and evergreen hardwood, with brush near the ridges. Outside the most developed parts of Santa Cruz and Capitola, it counts the rest of the area as wildland-urban interface.

On the state's 2025 fire hazard map, most of Scotts Valley is in the High zone. The plan lists the City of Scotts Valley among the communities it counts as assets at risk. It notes no large fires in this area in recent history. Still, numerous roadside and debris fires are put out there each year.

What does the Scotts Valley Fire District ask of property owners?

The Scotts Valley Fire Protection District serves the city, the Branciforte community and nearby county land. That is about 30 square miles and nearly 22,000 residents. The district runs a Weed Abatement Program under Ordinance No. 2024-1. Its page says property owners are ultimately responsible for managing their vegetation to meet district requirements.

After the district's board declares weeds a public nuisance, owners of affected parcels are sent a Notice to Destroy Weeds. It goes out by registered or certified mail at least ten days before a board hearing, where owners may object. The notice tells owners to remove the weeds without delay. The ordinance also lets owners remove them, or have them removed, before the district's agents arrive.

On State Responsibility Area land inside the district, CAL FIRE and the district run LE-100 fire hazard inspections. The district posts the inspection form so owners can prepare. It also offers home and property inspections to homeowners within its boundaries.

We size weed abatement to the notice or inspection in hand. The brush mower takes grass and stubble down, and the masticating head grinds brush into mulch. The district and CAL FIRE do the inspecting, and we clear the ground to their standard.

Forestry mulching, the chipper program and creek banks

The district's Community Chipper Program is for neighborhoods, HOAs, road associations and larger groups, not a single property owner. Piles must sit within 10 feet of the roadside, no more than 4 feet high and 6 feet across. Leaves, grass, vines and poison oak are not accepted. Afterward, the homeowner or neighborhood must reuse the chips or haul them away.

Forestry mulching works without piles at the road. The masticating head on our compact track loader grinds brush, saplings and small trees where they stand. Poison oak and coyote brush go into the mulch with the rest. The mulch stays on the ground as cover, which suits a single property or a slope far from the road.

The district asks people to mow before 10 a.m., and never when it is windy or very dry. Metal blades striking rocks can spark a fire. In wildland areas, spark arresters are required on portable gas-powered equipment, mowers included.

To protect water quality, the district asks owners not to clear vegetation near waterways down to bare soil. It also warns that clearing can cause erosion, especially on steep slopes. Mastication leaves the ground under a layer of mulch, and the soil stays in place.

Fire breaks and shared roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Lightning started the CZU Lightning Complex on August 16, 2020. CAL FIRE's record shows 86,509 acres burned in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, with 1,490 structures destroyed. At its closest, CAL FIRE's mapped perimeter is about two and a half miles west of the city limits.

NFPA's Firewise USA map lists 8 sites in good standing with Scotts Valley addresses. Mid-Glenwood, Weston Road and Upper Glen Canyon Road are among them. For HOAs, road associations and private roads, vegetation management keeps shared roads and common areas mowed and masticated each season.

Along a driveway or a ridge, a fire break is a strip of masticated brush and mowed grass. A break can slow a fire and give firefighters a place to work. We come over from Seaside, north on Highway 1 to Santa Cruz, then up Highway 17. The drive is about 45 miles, a little under an hour.