ENN
http://ehs.stanford.edu/aboutus/news.html
EH&S News & Notes
ENVIRONMENTAL
HEALTH & SAFETY
Edition 1: April 2006
Weed Abatement Minimizes
Fire Hazards
The Stanford Weed Abatement Program, managed
by the Grounds Department, is an annual eff ort
to control the abundant grasses and weeds
throughout the campus. When the grasses dry
out, they become fuel for wildfi res. Each year over
$80,000 is spent to abate this potential fi re hazard.
It begins every March when two employees
equipped with tractors and fl ail mowers begin
in the Arboretum areas to the north and work
south to the faculty staff areas of the campus. By
April, two additional employees follow behind the
mowers using weed eaters in areas inaccessible
to the tractors. In June the crews have completed
work in the foothill area, discing fi rebreaks as well
as mowing in sensitive areas where reforestation
and revegetation studies are ongoing. Additional
eff orts for mowing and cleaning areas continue
throughout the summer.
All of these eff orts help minimize the risk of fi re
by removing fuels and creating defensible spaces
around buildings and especially homes in the
wildland-urban interface area along Junipero
Serra Blvd.
While the Stanford campus experiences several
small vegetation fi res each year, the memory of
the July 10, 1992 fi re that scorched 500 acres in
the foothills is still fresh. The lessons learned from
that fi re were incorporated into the way areas are
protected today. If you live in a wildland-urban
interface area, there are several precautions that
you should be taking to protect your property.
Visit the California Department of Forestry & Fire
Protection website at http://fi re.ca.gov to learn
more.
A New MSDS Service
Stanford Researchers will soon have a new tool to
fi nd information on the chemicals they use. EH&S
is switching vendors for the Materials Safety Data
Sheet (MSDS) system it supports, from AOS to
ChemWatch.
ChemWatch covers more chemicals than AOS did,
and for each