Official 'Firewise' landscape recommendations are truly becoming something to take more urgent action on: from simply removing flammable debris piles or putting safe space between material hazards to organizing relationships between home, landscape, and garden elements. From past and present data, landscape conditions immediately surrounding building structures, and beyond, are a significant factor in losses to wildfire. Estimates and factors vary, but it's a lot. 

     So great, there are quite a few things we can do to reduce the odds of the unthinkable; however, the most effective guidelines cut a pretty grim image: a hellscape of homes nearly devoid of sheltering plant material and overhangs (especially of wooden material) 30'-50' feet in all directions. By default, such measures also necessitate foregoing basic passive energy conservation strategies via landscape vegetation, as well as environmentally friendly 'messy' maintenance practices such as allowing organic debris, such as leaves, to accumulate. 

"During a wildfire, often it is “firebrands”, small pieces of burning vegetation and debris that floats into the air, that start a home on fire. Our research shows that if the firebrands land in dead vegetation, whether it’s under the deck or in the eave troughs, they often ignite the house." (https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/firewise_landscaping_can_save_homes_from_wildfire).

     How is this supposed to work - particularly with regard to outdoor living spaces in desert environment such as ours? What about resource conservation through mitigating heat gain/loss, reducing wind exposure, soil conservation, sequestered carbon. What about wildlife? Prostrate, succulent plants in exposed heat islands (as recommended) require a lot more water than layered plant communities, and obviously don't create precious sheltered space for much of anything, including people. How can we protect ourselves from devastating loss without reinforcing a kind of sterility that has helped bring us to this place?

     What we have is a design challenge. We’re still gardening like Victorians, in the desert, and that should have already changed based on environmental science, but environmental design (including gardens and landscape) is particularly resistant to change. We do what we know, and we are deeply attached to what we know, and that is actually one very sweet thing about our relationship to landscape, but times are now clearly demanding something else.

     All things considered, it looks to me like all around 'smarter', safer design will indeed come down to much more sparing, but hopefully also more creative and multipurpose hardscape design that supports human needs and better 'frames' and shelters less preferred but more environmentally friendly native plants. I am beginning a project, Xtreme Design/SW, which will be a collection of perspectives, and ideas about adaptive design for home landscape and garden spaces. I will also be posting a gallery of images of local native plants focusing on how they might be better used in garden and landscape, from a design perspective. It will take a minute, but here is a possible random example:

     The image below shows a large engineered gabion retaining wall, beautifully constructed, at two angles. The staggered sloping angle is supporting an also beautiful gradient of pioneer plants. If you sort of clean this image up in your mind you might appreciate a gorgeous contrast between a ‘green’ battered wall, and a clean vertical stone wall - all feeling a bit like mayan ruins. It gives me ideas about shelter, the beauty of angles, contrasts, shade lines, texture, cactus gardening reframed, green firewalls?, wabi-sabi, etc. 

Image posted by r/Guerilla Gardening at https://www.reddit.com/r/GuerrillaGardening/comments/1dc5ko9/ideas_for_this_area/

https://idahofirewise.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/FireXResistanceXofXPlantsXMasterXDatabase.pdf

https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/sfd/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/LivingwithFire_2018_NMStateForestry_FINAL.pdf

https://lbcas.com/carbon-cactus-foundation