Boulder County Fourmile Rehabilitation 2012:

Aerial Seeding and Mulching operations to start next week!

Last year, nearly 2,000 acres were aerially-mulched as a part of the emergency stabilization efforts. Most areas began recovering on their own, but last fall, following the monsoon season, the fire area was assessed again for additional needs for stabilization treatments. This year, about 350 acres were identified as not recovering adequately on their own and needing immediate retreatment because of high erosion potential to homes and roads downstream. The 350 acres are mostly concentrated in and around Ingram Gulch (between Salina and Sunshine), with other small areas between Melvina Hill and Hoosier Hill, and near Fourmile Canyon Creek.

Aerial seeding will be added this year before aerially mulching. The seed mix is 70% slender wheatgrass, a short lived native perennial grass, and 30% triticale, an annual crop that will provide quick cover. Seed is applied first, then the mulch within a day or two. The mulching materials this year will be a mixture of certified weed-free wheat straw and wood shreds. Wood shreds are a locally produced mulch from shredded trees that have been cut for fuels treatment projects on US Forest Service land in Boulder County. The purpose of these stabilization treatments is to encourage the establishment of vegetation and prevent erosion in small precipitation events.

Mountain West Helicopters, the same contractor as last year, won the bid for this year’s aerial fire rehabilitation project. Western States Reclamation will be handling the seed and mulch again, and West Range Reclamation will be providing the wood shreds. The staging area is in the same location as last year on private property off of Sunshine Canyon Drive west of Bald Mountain Open Space. Please note that the staging area is on private property and not open to the public.

STAGING OPERATIONS and MULCH DELIVERIES:

Staging for aerial applications will begin next Monday, March 19th.  Straw deliveries will begin Tuesday, March 20th with 2 semi-load trucks of straw being delivered up Sunshine Canyon Drive for 4-5 days.

Wood shreds will be delivered via semi-trucks through the Town of Gold Hill on Gold Hill Road/Sunshine Canyon Drive beginning March 23 or 26th three weeks.

AERIAL OPERATIONS:

Aerial applications will begin April 10th and last for about two weeks, including weekends. One helicopter is expected to be used for the aerial seeding and mulching.  They will begin flying as early as 6:30am and will only fly during daylight hours as weather permits. They will not be able to fly in windy weather, common in the afternoons, so they need to start as soon as the sun rises, as allowed by the FAA. All dates are tentative and may change due to weather or other circumstances.

The same requirements from the FAA will be in place as last year, including that no one can be in the mulch treatment areas while seed and mulch are being applied by helicopter. Only designated contractor employees and agency staff who are wearing highly visible clothing and have radio contact with the pilots will be allowed in the treatment areas when helicopters are flying overhead. We will be asking home and land owners to temporarily leave your property when we have scheduled seed and mulch for your area. Typically, this is only for about 15 minutes or so. You can also follow this link to an interactive map and enter your address to see if you are in the mulching areas. All home and landowners who are directly affected have already been contacted:

http://www.bouldercounty.org/live/environment/land/pages/4milefirelandrehab.aspx

Then, click on the link for the interactive map.

Look for update e-mails about the seeding and mulching dates, though final notification may be last minute, such as the day before. Seed and mulch will not be applied within 150 feet around all existing homes.

Boulder County Parks and Open Space will be overseeing the aerial seeding and mulching operation. Contact Claire DeLeo at 303-678-6205 or cdeleo@nullbouldercounty.org for more information.