Today’s forest health outreach update covers the following topics:
* Forest Stewardship Tip of the Day: Bark Beetle Management Tips
* October is Wildfire Awareness Month: A sneak peak … community chipping events!
* Reminder: Nederland and Allenspark Sort Yards are Open

*Forest Stewardship Tip of the Day: Bark Beetle Management Tips
Forestry Tip of the Day: A vast majority of mountain pine beetles (mpbs) have finished their annual flight, and Ips bark beetles don’t cause many problems in the fall. As a result, over the next few weeks, you should survey all of your pine trees for new beetle infestation. Use our Bark Beetle Field Guide to help with identification: www.bouldercounty.org/find/library/environment/barkbeetlefieldguide.pdf

You can begin cutting newly infested trees right now; however; if you want to be cautious,  you may wait until after Oct. 1.  Special “sanitation techniques” must be used to kill the beetles under the bark of an infested tree. See page 11 of the Bark Beetle Field Guide for information about sanitation techniques.

If you want to keep logs as firewood, we are now recommending a newer sanitation technique.
*Step #1 – “Cut down infested tree” remove the limbs and haul them to a community forestry sort yard, community chipping event or chip on-site.
*Step #2 – “Score the logs”  by cutting furrows lengthwise down the entire log every 3-4 inches. Cuts don’t need to be too deep. Cut threw the outer bark to the “white fleshy” cambium layer. This step exposes more air to the inner bark and speeds up drying.
*Step #3 – “Buck (cut) the logs” into firewood sized pieces
*Step #4 – “Split the logs” and stack firewood in single rows, facing southwest, in the sunniest spot possible, with bark facing the sun. Do not stack the firewood in large piles.
*Alternative: After step # 3, don’t split the bucked up logs. Instead, place them in single rows facing southwest in a very sunny location. Logs must be rotated every couple of months to optimize sun exposure.

The goal of this treatment is to rapidly dry the logs and therefore kill the developing larva before they fly next summer. If you use this method, you should start treatments soon to take advantage of the warmer fall days. Field observations have shown that this technique is killing the beetles before the annual flight begins the next summer.

Why is this important??  You can reduce the total number of trees lost on your land if you take action!

*October is Wildfire Awareness Month: A sneak peak … community chipping events!
On September 6, 2011, the one year anniversary of the Fourmile Canyon Fire, Boulder County declared October as Wildfire Awareness Month. Look for a Wildfire Awareness Month announcement email from us next week with a large quantity of information about monthly activities!

Today, we wanted to send out a sneak peak about two community chipping events scheduled in early October. The first event in Left Hand Canyon will be offered Saturday, Oct. 6. The second event in Fourmile Canyon will be offered on Saturday, Oct. 13. All events are open to any county resident.

How does it work? Landowners are required to haul slash to the event. Hauled slash will be immediately chipped into roll-off dumpsters. Since we are chipping everything we collect, we have strict requirements on what can and cannot be dropped off. For complete details, including location and hours of operation, visit: www.bouldercounty.org/property/forest/pages/foresthealthevents.aspx

A special thanks to our partners: Fourmile and Lefthand Fire Protection District and the Colorado State Forest Service for help coordinate these Wildfire Awareness Month events.

The Town of Nederland is also offering free slash pick-up this fall in centralized locations within Town boundaries. Pickups will occur in the Sunnyside/Hilltop neighborhoods this week, in the Old Town neighborhood the week of Sept. 24, the Downtown neighborhoods the week of Oct. 1, and the Big Springs neighborhood the week of Oct. 8. Please visit the town’s website for full details. www.nederlandco.org/2012/09/neighborhood-slash-pick-up-in-september-october/. Please contact Nederland Town Hall directly with questions at 303-258-3266.

Please help spread the word in your community about these free chipping opportunities.

Reminder: Nederland and Allenspark Sort Yards are Open 
The north county Allenspark Community Forestry Sort Yard  is open for two more Fridays and Saturdays. Open: 9/21-9/22, & 9/28-29 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The south county Nederland sort yard, located at 291 Ridge Road, just north of Nederland, will continue its 9 -5 p.m., Tues. – Sat., schedule through Oct. 20.

Both sort yard site are now once again accepting logs that are infested with mountain pine beetles. Visit: www.BoulderCounty.org/ForestHealth for more information about our sort yard program.

Fall is the perfect time of year to be cutting for bark beetles, wildfire mitigation and forest health improvement. The best time of year to cut in relation to bark beetles (both IPS and MPBs) is from about Sept. 15 to March 15.

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!