Sierra Nevada Yard & Garden a homeowner’s guide to landscaping in the Sierra First of its kind guide helps homeowners create wildfire defensible space and a beautiful Sierra friendly yard and garden. Download it for free Or Purchase online for your own in-your-hands copy

A guide geared to Sierra Nevada homeowners

Developed for yards and gardens throughout the 400 mile long Sierra and Northern Cascade mountain ranges, the guide offers specific, local information for Sierra residents from the foothills to the high country.  It includes specifics for Sierra vegetation zones which include the foothills, mixed conifers, montane, upper montane and alpine environment, eastern Sierra communities and Modoc Plateau.  Get real-life examples from featured Sierra homeowners living at 900 feet to 6,200 feet in elevation.

One stop shopping

Sierra homeowners everywhere can get their landscaping, fire, water use, and gardening advice in one spot.  A well designed and maintained yard helps expand living space, suits your needs, and contributes to the high quality of life found in the Sierra Nevada.  No matter what goals you have for your garden – this guide shares practical, easy to follow steps, tips, and how-tos to meet your needs while being Sierra friendly.

Design a space for you and your family

With full color illustrations and photos, the guide is easy to read and laid out in a step-wise process.  Sierrans can create an attractive and easy to maintain yard that meet goals such as:

• family play areas,
• space for outdoor eating,
• vegetable gardens, and
• spots to simply find comfort and relaxation.

All the while, the guide ensures that it’s tips and practices also help the resident protect their home from wildfire, while protecting Sierra water, land, and wildlife.

Full color, 157 pages. 

Endorsed By:

California Association of Resource Conservation Districts

Sierra Nevada Conservancy

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension

Testimonials

“It was with great delight and surprise that we opened...the new book, Sierra Yard and Garden. I am in awe....With more and more focus on community sustainability and the importance of 'growing our own food'; the book seems to be making a very timely debut. It has certainly inspired us to think harder about food and not just beauty, as well as how we use our planet's most precious resource, water. I hope it has the same impact on all who read it.”

“The Sierra Nevada Yard and Garden is unique in its focus on plant communities, approaching landscape design as the establishment of natural ecosystems.  In emphasizing the natural landscapes specific to the Sierra Nevada it reviews landscaping principles and techniques, introduces native plants for grasslands, forest, edge areas and fire wise principles, illustrates how to evaluate a site and offers practical advice on reducing chemical use.”

“…The real value of this guide is its ongoing use as a resource for residents in the Sierra.  The techniques and methods described in these pages demonstrate simple, straightforward ways to implement good stewardship of California’s watersheds.”

“This helpful guide is ideal for property owners throughout the Sierra Nevada.  If gives people valuable information on how to manage their property to maximize its usefulness and beauty while preventing impacts to the environment and water quality.” 

Authors & Illustrators:

• Authors: Chapter 1 – Joan Clayburgh and Genevieve Jessop Marsh, Chapters 2 and 3 –Michelle Sweeney, Chapter 4 – Gerald Dion and Sheri Brown Dion, Chapter 5 – John Cobourn, Gerald Dion, Megan Suarez-Brand, Michelle Sweeney and Michael Vollmer, Features – Genevieve Jessop Marsh and Michelle Sweeney. 
   
• Head Editor: Michelle Sweeney, head editor of the guide, runs Allegro Communication Consulting.  A Tahoe homeowner, Sweeney has facilitated, written for, and coordinated major projects in the basin.  For this project she brought together landscaping design, soil, vegetation, fire safe and wildlife experts from across the Sierra.
   
• The guide features illustrations from John Muir Laws — naturalist, educator and artist John (Jack) Muir Laws delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others.  Laws has written two books, the Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada and Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide. He is also a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column.
   
• Featured photography by eastern Sierran Stephen Ingram and Stephen Ingram Nature Photography, Stephen’s photos have been published in numerous books, magazines, calendars, field guides, as note cards, and for advertising. Stephen’s photos were used extensively in Sierra Nevada Natural History published by U.C. Press in 2004, Death Valley and the Northern Mojave: A Visitor’s Guide, published by Cachuma Press in 2003, and in California Native Plants for the Garden, also published by Cachuma Press in 2005. Stephen’s own book project, Cacti, Agaves and Yuccas of California and Southern Nevada, will be published by Cachuma Press in 2007. www.ingramphoto.com.
  

Other Photography:
Featured Phography by Stephen Ingram, Michelle Sweeney, and the Nature Conservancy—John M. Randall, Barry A. Rice, Mandy Tu; contributied photography by Susan Bragstad, Cheryl Beyer, Peyton Ellas, Forest Jay Guana, Marion Gee, Solomon Henson, Stephen Ingram, Do Lee, and Bryan von Lossberg. 

Cartography: Greeninfo Network and Gerald Dion, Tallac Applied Ecology and Design. 

Select content, sketches and photography contributed by: The Home Landscaping Guide for Tahoe and Vicinity, a University of Nevada Cooperative Extension publication, by John Cobourn. 

This work was made possible by a grant from the The State Water Resources Control Board.  Funding also provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, East West Partners and the California Urban Water Conservation Council. 

“Funding for this project has been provided in full or part through an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board.  The contents of this document do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the State Water Board, nor does mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.”