Firescaping Your Home: A Manual for Readiness in Wildfire Country

This hardworking, actionable guide is a must-have for homeowners looking to fight the risks of wildfire spreading to their homes and property.

Wildfires are burning over longer seasons and more intensely than ever before, and everyone living in a wildland-urban interface or wildland-adjacent area should take precautionary steps to mitigate the risk of property damage. In Firescaping Your Home, Adrienne Edwards and Rachel Schleiger provide expert guidance and specific recommendations on how to harden your home against fire and create defensible space that is lush and attractive. They also provide in-depth native plant lists of hundreds of species that have evolved to coexist with fire in the West, and show how and why including these on your property sustains wildlife and can actually be your most powerful defense.

Adrienne Edwards, PhD, is a botanist, plant ecologist, garden designer, environmental consultant, and teacher. She began her botanical odyssey in the Southeast, spent time botanizing in the Midwest, and since 2006 has lived and worked in northern California. With over 30 years of experience teaching, doing environmental research, and consulting, plants continue to drive her passions. She is currently a faculty lecturer at California State University, Chico.

Rachel Schleiger, MS, is a plant ecologist who specializes in restoration ecology. She has lived in the WUI most of her life. Her family and property survived the most deadly and destructive fire on record, the 2018 Camp Fire. Over the last 3 years she has developed curriculum to teach about wildfire, both in-person and online through Butte College. She is currently a faculty lecturer at both Butte College and California State University, Chico.