Program Title: Seed the Change: Fire-Smart Landscaping Starter Kits

 Wildfires are growing faster, hotter, and more destructive across California. In 2023 alone, over 7,000 fires burned nearly 320,000 acres in the state, with many starting in wildland-urban interface (WUI) zones where homes and flammable vegetation overlap (CAL FIRE, 2024). “Seed the Change” is a wildfire prevention and community resilience program launched by Wildfire Resilient Landscapes (WRL) to empower residents—especially those in high-risk areas—to take immediate, meaningful action to protect their homes and neighborhoods.

The Problem We’re Solving

Across Southern California, two key problems are increasing wildfire risk:

1. Overgrown, flammable landscapes full of invasive grasses and poorly spaced vegetation
2. Lack of accessible, science-backed resources for property owners to make fire-safe landscaping decisions

Over 1.5 million people live in high-fire-risk zones in the Los Angeles metro area alone (USDA Forest Service, 2022). Yet most homeowners still landscape with non-native ornamental plants that are highly flammable, difficult to maintain, and offer no ecological benefits.

How Seed the Change Helps

• Fire Mitigation: Native grasses like Purple Needlegrass and Deergrass form clumps instead of dense mats, reduce surface fuel continuity, and help slow wildfire spread. Properly spaced native plants have lower flame lengths, less radiant heat, and regenerate more safely post-fire.
• Education & Empowerment: Many residents want to “do the right thing” but don’t know where to start. These kits turn awareness into action with straightforward, practical tools.
• Equity & Access: By offering kits on a sliding scale (or free to high-risk, low-income households), WRL ensures that income does not limit fire safety.
• Ecological Co-Benefits: Native grass restoration improves soil stability, enhances biodiversity, and reduces the dominance of invasive fire-prone grasses like cheatgrass and medusahead.

Program Goals (Year 1):

• Distribute 1,000 kits in high-risk neighborhoods across Los Angeles, Ventura, and San Bernardino Counties
• Establish 20+ community planting projects as fire-smart demonstration sites
• Increase knowledge of defensible space best practices by 30% among participants (via post-surveys)
• Reduce flammable ornamental plant usage in participating neighborhoods by 15%

Sustainability & Long-Term Impact

Each kit links to WRN’s growing network of native plant resources, keeping residents engaged long after planting. The program will be scaled annually to reach 10,000 households statewide within 5 years. As participation grows, so does our collective fire resilience.

Selected References:

• CAL FIRE (2024). Wildfire statistics and defensible space guidelines.
• Brooks et al. (2004). Effects of invasive alien plants on fire regimes. BioScience.
• USDA Forest Service (2022). Wildland-urban interface risk analysis.
• Quinn, R. D. (1994). Fire ecology of a native California grassland. Journal of Range Management.