Today’s Forest Health Outreach update covers the following:
*Forestry Tip of the Day: Ips Beetles are Flying
*Wildfire Partners: Space is Limited – Apply by June 17
*Free Disposal: Branches, Logs, Pine Needles, Grass Clippings
*Noxious Weed ID Workshops: June 24 & Aug. 26

*Forestry Tip of the Day: Ips Beetles are Flying 
Forestry Tip of the Day: Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen new ips infestation in freshly cut firewood, slash piles and in stressed pine trees. We recommend surveying your land for new ips infestations. Use our Bark Beetle Field Guide to help with identification: http://www.bouldercounty.org/doc/forest/barkbeetlefieldguide.pdf.

Ips Beetle ID Tips: When surveying for ips look for accumulations of fine grain reddish brown frass (saw dust) at the base of living pine trees, caught in the bark of trees or in little piles accumulating on the top of fresh firewood and slash piles. Another sign to look for is the very rapid die off of seemly healthy trees. Trees infested with ips turn from green to a red in as little as 4-6 weeks. To help with ID we created an Ips Tip Sheet graphic and attached it to the eNewsletter.  Take a look!

Ips Beetle Management “Green Chaining”:  Ips beetles are highly attracted to freshly cut “green/wet” pine slash and logs. We can use this knowledge to our advantage by intentionally cutting this time of year and stacking green pine slash/logs in an area that is easy to access for disposal and is not close to high value trees. These freshly cut piles will attract ips beetles and in essence “bait” the ips into the pile. After Ips infests the pile it takes them 4-6 weeks to complete their life cycle. Once ips completes their life cycle they typically fly out of the infested pile and immediately re-infest the same pile; if the pile continues to have fresh/wet material in it.

We can use ips biology to our advantage by continuing to cut and adding freshly cut slash to the infested piles at intervals of at least every 3-4 weeks. The key to green chaining is creating a continuous supply of freshly cut slash.

The final and most important step is that you MUST destroy the pile and therefore the breeding beetles before the pile dries out. We recommend that you haul the pile to either theAllenspark or the Nederland community forestry sort yard site or chip the pile. Don’t panic if you find ips on your land or in firewood piles. They are to be expected when cutting and generally don’t turn into a huge problem if properly managed. Contact us with questions.

*Wildfire Partners: Space is Limited – Apply by June 17
Time is quickly running out to apply for Wildfire Partners in 2014. All applications must be received by June 17. We only have room to accept 85 additional home’s into the program in 2014 and already have 75 applications in hand.

Since program launch, we have already completed 210 wildfire mitigation home assessments. These participants have been impressed by the educational approach we take and were surprised by the number of little things they could do to immediately improve their home’s survivability.

Complete details including program benefits and an online application are available by visiting www.WildfirePartners.org. To apply by phone call 303-446-7877.

*Free Disposal – Branches, Logs, Pine Needles, Grass Clippings 
Have you been out implementing effective wildfire mitigation on your land? Do you have a huge pile of branches, logs, pine needles and grass clippings that are now creating a fire hazard on your land? You can drop all of this combustible material at our sort yards in Nederland Allenspark for no charge. Before hauling visit:http://www.bouldercounty.org/property/forest/pages/fhsortyards.aspx

Residents living closer to the city of Boulder can haul yard waste, branches and logs under 6 inches in diameter to Western Disposal’s yard waste facility. County residents receive a 40% discount at this fee site. More info: http://www.westerndisposal.com/drop-center/yard-waste/

*Noxious Weed ID Workshops: June 24 & Aug. 26
CSU Extensions and Boulder County Parks and Open Space are offering two noxious weed identification and management workshops this summer. One on June 24 and the other on August 26, from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm in Longmont.  Please see the attached brochure for details.  You can register online at http://csu-extension-boco-weeds.eventbrite.com
Workshop Goals:
* Identify your weed samples
* Determine Weed Control strategies that will work for you (including organic control)
* Understand county and state weeds laws
Cheers,
Ryan