Wildfire and Residential Landscapes - Reducing vulnerabilities to homes and structures in 2026

Landscape designers, installers, and maintenance professionals face increasingly complex demands to deliver beautiful home landscapes that reduce fire risks. This training will provide current policy, science, and practice for the creation, implementation, and maintenance of residential landscapes that can reduce structure vulnerabilities to wildfire. Topics to be covered include:

• California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection guidance and directives for residential landscapes
• Fire behavior and vulnerability of structures
• Prioritizing Defensible Space Inspection Report action items with appealing design, installation, and care examples

Researchers, educators, and landscape professionals will lead this training, including:

• Kathleen Cutter, Wildfire Mitigation Specialist, Marin Wildfire
• Sheryl Drinkwater, Home Hardening Specialist Architect, Geometra Design
• April Owens, Executive Director, Habitat Corridor Project
• Tori Norville, UC Cooperative Extension Fire Science Advisor
• Steve Quarles, UC Cooperative Extension Advisor Emeritus
• Yana Valachovic, UC Cooperative Extension Forestry Advisor

Who should attend:

Architects, owners and managers of landscape design build, landscape maintenance, or property management companies, and realtors will benefit from this training. Attendees will receive a University of California Cooperative Extension certificate of participation and be listed on Fire Safe Marin’s website. 

Meeting information, including Zoom link, will be provided closer to the training. Register online at: https://surveys.ucanr.edu/survey.cfm?surveynumber=48991