Know exactly where your zones are before anyone picks up a tool.

What it is

The difference between clearing and clearing in the right places.

Vegetation management done in the wrong places — or to the wrong depth — doesn’t create defensible space. It creates the appearance of it. The difference comes down to knowing where your zone boundaries actually belong for your specific terrain, your fuel types, and the direction fire would approach your structures.

Zone Marking puts that knowledge on the ground. A CWD team member walks your property and places physical markers at your Zone 0, 1, and 2 boundaries — positioned so any crew can see exactly where the work needs to happen. Whether you’re doing the clearing yourself, using a landscaping company you trust, or coordinating a work party — the markers take the guesswork out of execution.

Who it’s for

The practical choice for DIY and third-party crews.

• Property owners who are doing their own vegetation management and want to make sure the zones are drawn correctly before they start — so the effort actually reduces fire risk, not just fuel volume.
• Property owners who have hired a brush clearing company and want to ensure the work is done to a fire-informed standard, not just a cosmetic one.
• Cost-conscious customers who want CWD’s expertise on where the lines go without commissioning full CWD mitigation.
• Customers who have a Defensible Space Plan and need it physically translated onto the property before a third-party crew starts work.

Zone Marking is also a practical way to build a relationship with CWD before committing to a larger service. We get to know your property. You get to see how we work. For many customers, Zone Marking leads naturally into the Fire Season Maintenance Program — because once the zones are established and CWD knows the property, ongoing management is the logical next step.

What happens

One visit. Boundaries placed. Crew ready to work.

A CWD team member walks your property and places physical markers at the Zone 0, 1, and 2 boundaries — at intervals sufficient for any crew to follow the line clearly. Marker placement is based on your existing Defensible Space Plan if you have one, or determined on-site using the CWD Fire-Informed Assessment Framework if you don’t.

Before leaving, the team member documents what was placed and where — a simple sketch map that gives you a record of the marked boundaries and gives any crew a reference document if questions arise during the work.

A crew handoff note is produced alongside the sketch map — a plain-language document explaining what the markers indicate and what the crew should do in each zone. Written for a non-specialist crew. No technical language. Just clear instructions.

What you get

Three things. All practical.

What comes next

Marking is the start. These services build on it.