Fearing fire, West Lake Hills residents work to ease tree, brush cutting rules (Austin: HOA)

[FueledByBlueBell]

Can't help but to post this. This thinking is insane! I love trees but if they are a fire risk and dead/scrubby then let's clear them! Thoughts?

Fearing fire, West Lake Hills residents work to ease tree, brush cutting rules

[G Grasshopper]

I know it's tempting to think that the answer is cutting everything down. But it is very true that if you buy a house in the woods, you take on that risk. Yes, they should deal with the legal buffer zones, clean the dead stuff from their gutters and roofs, and all the other recommended and legal steps. We can control some things, but not everything. So leveling the forest out of fear seems entirely the wrong direction to me. Humans are not the only ones living in the woods. We live with many risks every day, and fire is just one of them. Our house backs to open space, and when we bought it we were quite aware that there is some risk to living there. But we chose to make that trade-off for the other benefits. I would not even consider removing the forest behind us out of fear. People who are not willing to live with the risk should buy houses that are in more fire-retardant areas (more pavement, etc.) Lets hope that we get rain and that this becomes a moot point.

[Dr.Mom]

I read this article too and it left me scratching my head. There is no HOA and they're STILL up to their necks in rules. If I wanted to, tomorrow I could cut down every tree on my property and spray paint my lawn purple. Or, remove all the grass and put in river rock (or anything else of my choosing). I would not have to get any permits, have any inspectors out or pay any fines. No one could say anything about it.

These people are asking for something completely reasonable and trying to reduce the risk of future fires. I thought that Texas was known for independent souls. Now I know why the Libertarian movement has traction in Austin. I'd hate the government too if it controlled my every move.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Who said anything about leveling the forest? Regulation should be expanded to allow the clearing of down dead trees and scrubby bushes given these conditions. I don't think we need to hack down oaks but to ignore an environment that is conducive to fires is ridiculous. The HOA is acting totally illogical on this. To simply pray for rain is crazy!

[TexasHorseLady]

You do realize that fallen trees both provide shelter for the creatures that live in the forest and as they decay, provide soil for the rest of the forest to grow and survive in, right?

Upon reading the article, it appears that the homeowners are allowed to remove vegetation that would be a fire hazard after requesting a permit to do so and having a city inspector come out and verify the necessity. Also, that the ordinance was modified to a certain extent in allowing cedar trees below a certain diameter to be removed without requiring that they be replaced.

Sounds reasonable to me - the homeowners are allowed to protect their property by removing what is necessary upon examination by a professional hired by the city to do so, but not to decimate the forest out of fear. (And some would do so, not realizing that what they should do is move into a high rise condo downtown or some such, instead.)