Local firefighters warn that wildfire risks are on the rise. So take control of your vulnerabilities. How you maintain and landscape the five feet around your home or business can make a big difference.

• Keep the corners of the building clear of combustible materials.
• Use noncombustible mulch, such as rock.
• Keep the lawn properly irrigated and use low-growing, non-woody plants. Shrubs and trees are not recommended in the five-foot zone.
• Remove dead vegetation and avoid the accumulation of fallen leaves, needles, and other flammable materials.

Learn more:

• For additional advice, see this flier from Cal Fire and the Newport Beach Fire Department.
• Assess your home’s fire vulnerability and read tips from the O.C. Fire Authority.
• Learn how IRWD stays prepared — and how you can too.

Disasters don’t wait. Make your plan today.

That’s the tagline for this year’s National Preparedness Month, an annual observance in September to remind us to check on our safety plans and supplies.

IRWD is always on the ready, keeping watch to respond to emergencies in our service area, patrolling canyon areas and monitoring operations for risks from fire, power failures, or other emergencies. Backup generators and fuel tanks are prepared at all times should we need them.

We also participate in ongoing training and emergency drills with the Water Emergency Response Organization of Orange County and other agencies to establish a coordinated response to whatever comes our way.

But the safety of our community doesn’t stop there. Individuals must also do their part to prepare themselves and their families.

Here’s what the Department of Homeland Security recommends we all do during this national safety observation month.

• Make a plan: Talk to friends and family about how you will communicate before, during, and after disaster. Make sure that plan complies with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations due to the coronavirus.
• Build a kit: Gather supplies that will last several days for everyone in your home. Visit ready.gov/kit for details. In addition to water, food and other supplies, this year’s recommendations include masks and disinfectants for dealing with COVID-19.
• Assess risks: Consider the types of emergencies you may be facing due to your location and living conditions. For instance, if wildfire is a threat from nearby open spaces, create a safety zone around your home. Visit ready.gov/wildfires for more.
• Alerts: Sign up to receive emergency alerts to keep you informed during times of crisis. Enroll in IRWD’s CodeRED alert system at IRWD.com/emergency-codered/services/emergency.

It happens every summer. Seasonal spikes in temperatures send cockroaches scampering to seek shelter in cool, damp quarters – sometimes inside our homes.

Homeowners can do their part to discourage these invasions by following these simple tips:

• Check for water leaks in irrigation boxes, air-conditioning units and other sources that could attract vermin.
• Remove yard clutter such as leaves and other debris that can create a dark and damp environment for cockroaches to live in.
• Be cautious when applying mulch to your landscape. Many varieties contain insect eggs or larvae.
• Keep the perimeter of your home clear of dense foliage, clutter and debris.
• Finally, if you believe you have a problem, contact a pest control company or your homeowners association to treat the problem. Pest maintenance is a service frequently funded from monthly HOA dues.

“Heat sends the bugs looking for a cool space and water source,” said Collection Systems Manager Dorien McElroy. “It usually starts in June, and really picks up in July and August.”

Having inhabited the Earth for 320 million years, cockroaches are adept at making the most of their environment. Make sure you aren’t promoting ideal living conditions for them at your home.

What could be better than finding a pearl inside an oyster shell?

Keeping the shell, and using it to create new habitat for the native Olympia oyster, now functionally extinct.

That’s what IRWD has been doing in partnership with Orange County Coastkeeper.

The nonprofit organization, whose mission is to protect local waterways and marine ecosystems, has placed some 40,000 pounds of oyster shells in Upper Newport Bay, at Castaways Beach and along the De Anza Peninsula. The craggy surface of the shell serves as the ideal point of attachment for young native oyster larvae looking for a place to fasten themselves and grow.

Irvine Ranch Water District provides space in its corporate yard at the San Joaquin Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary for the shells to dry. It can take up to a year for the shells to cure so they are clean enough to allow the native species to settle there. The program started in 2017, and to date, over 20,000 native adult oysters are living in the bay, said Katie Nichols, Coastkeeper’s marine restoration director.

“That’s three to 10 times what you’d find naturally occurring,” she said, standing beside rows of coconut coir netting used to hold the shells in place until the oysters can take over and the netting eventually degrades.

Nichols calls it a “living shoreline” project, using natural materials to stabilize the shore so that eventually a full ecosystem — complete with eelgrass and a diversity of fish, mollusks and crustaceans — establishes itself there and thrives.

“Restoration of oysters and eelgrass is critical to the health and resiliency of the Newport Bay ecosystem because both species provide many ecosystem services for our coastal wetlands,” Nichols said.

As filter feeders, oysters also help to improve water clarity, she added.

Coastkeeper is using the shells of Pacific oysters from local restaurants, but the goal is to bring back the native Olympia oysters, which were once an abundant food source for native Californians and an important habitat and refuge for other organisms.

Pollution, over-harvesting and habitat loss have led to the oysters’ decline in the past 100 years. Today, more than 85% of the world’s oyster reefs have been lost.

IRWD Wetlands Scientist Mo Wise, a marine biologist by trade, is encouraged by the progress being made on the project.

“It’s great to see the water we are cleaning through our Natural Treatment System at the San Joaquin Marsh become a part of this renovation,” she said. “But even more rewarding is to see the increase in population counts.

“This is important work being done,” she said, “and IRWD is happy to be a part of it.”

Top photo: IRWD Wetlands Scientist Mo Wise and Coastkeeper Marine Restoration Director Katie Nichols inspect the living shoreline project at Upper Newport Bay; middle photo: a closeup of the shells used in the project; bottom photo: the shoreline after three years, now home to 20,000 adult oysters.