Boulder County Forest Health Outreach eNewsletter – Oct. 11, 2012

Posted on: October 11th, 2012

Today’s forest health outreach update covers the following topics:
*Forestry Tip of the Day: Wildfires can occur at anytime of year
*Wildfire Mitigation Challenge Outreach: Week Number Two – Tree Work
*October Wildfire Awareness Month: Upcoming Events
*Nederland Sort Yard to close for the season on Saturday Oct. 20

*Forestry Tip of the Day: Wildfires can occur at anytime of year
Forestry Tip of the Day: The Fern Lake wildfire on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park continues to burn and is estimated to be around 660 acres. The fire began on Tuesday, Oct 9 and remains uncontained as of 2 p.m. Thursday. This fire is a good reminder that wildfires can occur at nearly anytime of the year and we must remain prepared for wildfires. Latest info on the Fern Lake is here: www.nps.gov/romo/naturescience/currentfires.htm

Join the Wildfire Mitigation Challenge to learn about what you can do to protect your home from future wildfires. Sign-up is fast and easy and you could win a STIHL MS 250  chainsaw package, a STIHL MS 290 chainsaw, a STIHL FS 45 weed trimmer, one $300 gift card and twelve $100 gift cards to Indian Peaks Ace hardware in Nederland! Signup online at www.BoulderCountyWildfireAware.org

Why is this important??  Fires are inevitable and we must adapt our behaviors and learn to live in a fire dependent ecosystem.

*Wildfire Mitigation Challenge Outreach: Week Number Two – Tree Work
* Thanks to everyone who already signed up for the Wildfire Mitigation Challenge. The following information complements week # 2 challenge checklist tasks.

The theme for week number two of the Challenge is “tree work”.  As part of this week’s challenge we highly recommend you watch the video “Wildfires! Preventing Home Ignitions”. The video is 20 minutes long, but it is well worth watching in its entirety. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0iR8o54hDU

At 5:53 into the video it looks at three primary reasons homes ignite during wildland fires. 1) Direct flame contact 2) Radiant heat and 3) Flying embers. Wildland fire research clearly demonstrated that whether or not your home ignites from a passing fire is directly related to the proactive fire mitigation actions you have taken within approximately 100-200 feet of your structures.

At 8:55 into the video it introduces the concept of the “Home Ignition Zone”. Pay special attention to this section as Jack Cohen helps you understand why tree work/vegetation management within a relatively small distance of your structures is so important. Keep in mind, aggressively removing conifers, ladder fuels and the lowest limbs on trees near your home helps create a defensible area which provides fire fighters a safer working environment to protect your home. Fire fighters may avoid your home altogether if they don’t have a safe area where they feel comfortable fighting the fire.

Join us at an outdoor workshop on Sun. Oct. 14 to learn more about the “Home Ignition Zone”. We are hosting a Wildfire Mitigation workshop at a landowner’s home on Magnolia Rd. Learn how to identify mitigation actions you can take to reduce the ignitability of your home. An RSVP is required for this event. Visit our main Wildfire Awareness Month website for further details.

This week we challenge you to start small and work incrementally towards your final goals of creating effective wildfire mitigation on your land. Get out there this weekend and complete as many of week # 2 challenge checklist tasks as possible.

*October Wildfire Awareness Month: Upcoming Events

We have a jam-packed calendar of events scheduled in the next few days. We are offering two educational workshops, a naturalist hike, a chipping event, an insurance workshop and a volunteer forestry project.  Visit www.BoulderCountyWildfireAware.org and click on the “events tab” for complete descriptions about each event.

Event Highlights:
*On Sat. Oct. 13, we highly recommend that you attend our free “Wildfire Mitigation and Slash Pile Building Workshop” in Nederland.  Join your local professional fire fighters from the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office Fire Management Program as they teach you how to safely build and burn slash piles. This hands on workshop covers how to safely use chainsaws to cut trees, examines tools and resources available for wood removal, teaches you how to build and burn slash piles and much more. Bring a sack lunch, gloves and dress for the weather.

*Also on Sat. Oct. 13 take advantage of a free chipping day in Fourmile Canyon at the Logan Mill Fire Station. Haul cut slash and logs under 6 inches in diameter to this free chipping day. Fire fighters from Fourmile Fire Protection, Colorado State Forest Service and Boulder County will help you unload and chip your material.  We also have a volunteer forestry project and a naturalist hike scheduled on Saturday.

*On Sun. Oct. 14 join us at a free “Home Ignition Zone” Wildfire Mitigation Workshop. Learn how to identify mitigation actions you can take to reduce the ignitability of your home. We will be outdoors at a landowner’s home on Magnolia Rd. RSVP is required for this event.

*Next week on Tues. Oct. 16 Foothills United Way and Boulder County are holding a free educational workshop in Lyons to help residents make sure they are properly insured and to learn how to be prepared for any natural disaster. Often, the cost to rebuild, especially in the mountains, exceeds the amount of coverage policyholders carry for their homes and other property. Adding to this problem is the homeowner’s lack of awareness that the policies they carry are inadequate. This workshop is a must for all homeowners.

Make sure to visit us online at www.BoulderCountyWildfireAware.org and click on the “events tab” for dates, times and locations of upcoming events.

*Nederland Sort Yard to close for the season on Saturday Oct. 20 
The Nederland community forestry sort yard is only open a few more days this fall. The sort yard is a great free of charge location to drop off all that material you have been cutting as part of the Wildfire Mitigation Challenge. The Nederland Sort Yard will remain open Tues., to Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., through October 20. The Allenspark sort yard site is now closed for the 2012 season. For complete details about the sort yard program visit us online at www.bouldercounty.org/property/forest/pages/fhsortyards.aspx.

Be Aware, Be Prepared, Be Firewise!

Cheers,
Ryan

Ryan Ludlow | Forestry Education & Outreach Coordinator 
Boulder County | Land Use Department
O: 720.564.2641 | F: 303.441.4856
rludlow@nullbouldercounty.org | www.bouldercounty.org/ForestHealth
*Please visit our website to sign-up to receive emails about forestry workshops, community meetings, bark beetle management tips and more!