Desired Future Conditions and Values at Risk:
FOREST HEALTH
Timberline View Estates CWPP MeetingSeventh Day Adventist Church, Durango, CO
February 19, 2014
Kent Grant,District Forester
Durango District, Colorado State Forest Service
o Number of lives at risk
o Number of residences and density
o Other economic values – additional structures and facilities, watersheds, and municipal water supplies
o Social Values – views, pets, livestock, livelihood, cultural, historic, and recreational resources, and others
o Ecological values – biological diversity, wildlife habitat, T&E species, endemic species, soil, air, water quality, and ecosystem health
Values at Risk to Wildfire Typically Include:
Desired Future Conditions and Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
Piñon-Juniper (Pinus edulis; Juniperus scopulorum, Juniperus osteosperma)oElevation range is 4,900 to 8,000 feet (Plains to Foothills Life Zones)oUsually occurs on lower, more arid sites below the Gambel oak zone.oAnnual precipitation typically 10-15 inches.oSagebrush a common understory speciesoCommonly Rocky Mountain juniper, but can be a mixture of RMJ and Utah juniperoOften requires strong winds to carry a wildfire, but then will burn very intenselyoMajor Insects: Piñon ips (P), piñon pitch mass borer (P), western cedar bark beetle (J), juniper borer (J).oMajor Diseases: dwarf mistletoe (P), black stain root disease (P), Phoradendron mistletoe (J).
Desired Future Conditions and Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
Major Vegetative Types of Timberline View Estates:
Piñon-juniper woodland.
Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii)oElevation range is 6,000 to 9,000 feet (Foothills to Montane Life Zones)oUsually occurs between PJ and cool, moist mixed conifer vegetative typesoAnnual precipitation is typically 15-22 inchesoImportant wildlife speciesoAnchors soil on steep hillsidesoReadily reproduces by suckering (sprouts) from root systemoMajor Insects: Gambel oak borer, gall forming insects, leafrollersoMajor Diseases: Anthracnose, leaf blister, root rotoFrost Damage: Often happens during cold snaps in spring after leaf emergenceoDrought: Top kill
Major Vegetative Types of Timberline View Estates:
City of Durango’s Twin Buttes Open Space property.
Desired Future Conditions and Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa)oElevation range 5,800 to 9,800 feet (Foothills to Montane Life Zones)oAdapted to high temperatures and low moistureoHighly resistant to low-intensity fireoCommonly found on north and east aspects in its lower range, south and west aspects at higher elevationsoShade intolerant, often occurring in even-aged standsoMany second growth (blackjack) stands in San Juan Basin area approximately 100 years oldoSecond-growth stands are often overstockedoGamble oak is a common understory species in southwest ColoradooImportant timber speciesoMajor Insects: mountain and western pine beetlesoMajor Diseases: dwarf mistletoe
Major Vegetative Types of Timberline View Estates:
Mancos State Park north of Mancos in Montezuma County.
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o There are many descriptions of forest health that vary depending upon perspective.
o Often based on personal or group values and management objectives.
o A perceived balance between natural ecological processes and human values.
o Forest Health, like many modern issues, involves complex social, economic, and environmental interactions.
What is Forest Health?
Banded Peak Ranch SE of Pagosa Springs in Archuleta County.
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o More recent definitions of forest health range between utilitarian (anthropocentric) and ecosystem (ecocentric) perspectives.
o The utilitarian perspective emphasizes forest conditions which directly satisfy human needs, while the ecosystem perspective emphasizes the maintenance of sustainable ecosystems over the landscape.
o “Consistency with objectives” is a theme common to both utilitarian and ecosystem definitions of forest health. Failure to meet objectives, stated by either human uses or ecological conditions, indicates an unhealthy forest.
(From the paper: Forest Health from Different Perspectives; T.E. Kolb, M.R. Wagner, and W. W. Covington.)
What is Forest Health? (continued)
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Clean Air and Water
o Abundant Wildlife Habitat
o Multitude of Forest Products
o Variety of Outdoor Recreation Opportunities
o Productive Range for Livestock
o Pristine Wilderness Areas
o Attractive Scenery
o Resiliency and Less Susceptibility to Severe Wildfire, Forest Insects/Diseases
Benefits of a healthy forest include:
San Juan National Forest northeast of Mancos in Montezuma County.
Desired Future Conditions and Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Aggressive fire suppression has interfered with fire’s natural role in the environment, particularly in fire-adapted forest ecosystems like the ponderosa pine type.
o Build up of dead and live fuels due to years of fire suppression and lack of thinning/harvesting.
o Stands frequently lack diversity and are largely homogeneous, comprised of trees of similar size and age classes.
o Many stands are overstocked with tree tops in close proximity to each other, creating significant crown fire potential.
o Stands are stressed by drought, longer and warmer summers (global warming?), and overcrowding.
o Insect and disease problems are increasingly impacting overly crowded, aging stands.
o Human development further taxes natural ecosystems and forest processes.
o Higher likelihood of major, intense wildfires like the Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002 and the Weber Fire of 2012.
Current Forest Conditions:
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Population growth
o Fragmentation of ecosystem
o Construction damage
o Pollution/toxins
o Invasive species (plant and insect)
o Improper forest management
o Poor livestock grazing practices
Human Activities that Impact Forest Health:
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Other public safety issues (floods, debris flows) and damage to infrastructure.
o Lower aesthetic values, quality of life.
o Losses to economy, tourism industry.
o Reduced property value and property tax revenue.
o Poorer air and water quality.
o Degraded wildlife habitat.
Consequences of Poor Forest Health: (continued)
Ponderosa pine killed by western pinebeetle east of Durango in La Plata County.
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Forest management is the implementation of planned activities that improve and protect forest health, reduce wildfire danger, and protect other forest benefits.
o Examples of forest management include:Commercial timber harvesting •Forest thinning (commercial and pre-commercial)•Prescribed fire (broadcast burns and pile burns)•Wildfire hazard mitigation/fuels treatments•Reforestation (natural, seeding, planting)
o Other management activities, such as regulating development within fire-prone forest types may be equally effective in improving the condition of some forests.
o Forest management is a tool to direct the forest toward a desired condition, and can be especially crucial within the wildland urban interface (WUI).
Forest Management (Stewardship):
Thinned ponderosa pine stand onprivate property on Haycamp Mesain Montezuma County.
Prescribed burn on private propertyon Haycamp Mesa east of Dolores.
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Strive to address the causes and not the symptoms of forest health problems. Utilize available technical expertise.
o Consider the potential impacts of decisions upon forest health, possible public safety consequences, and options for mitigation.
o Adopt sound land use planning requirements for defensible space, wildfire hazard mitigation, and emergency access.
o Avoid ordinances or regulations that prohibit or limit forest management options.
o Support collaborative programs and initiatives that promote forest health, wildfire prevention, and hazard mitigation (i.e., FireWise Council of Southwest Colorado, FireWise Neighborhood Ambassadors, San Juan Tree Farmers, Forest Agriculture Property Tax Classification, and San Juan Public Lands and CSFS projects).
o Promote implementation of defensible space and the use of firewise construction design and building materials, and CWPP’s, especially in the wildland urban interface (WUI).
Recommendations:
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o Make information about forest health and wildfire hazard mitigation readily available to new and existing landowners and encourage application.
o Support local forest industry and forestry service contracting businesses (i.e., wildfire mitigation companies).
Recommendations: (continued)
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
o A forest is dynamic, ever changing. Sometimes this change is very slow and imperceptible, and at other times very rapid and cataclysmic.
o You can’t take a snapshot of a forest and expect it to remain the same
over time.
o If we don’t manage the forest then nature will do it for us, and perhaps not in a manner we would prefer.
o A hands off, leave it to nature approach does not ensure the broad array of ecosystem services upon which the public’s welfare depends.
o If a wildfire impacting a subdivision can be limited to a less intense surface fire, many of the trees should survive and the area will still be an attractive place to reside.
Some Closing Thoughts:
McPhee Park on the San Juan National Forest northeast of Dolores in Montezuma County.
Desired Future Conditions and
Values at Risk: FOREST HEALTH
Contact Information:
Kent GrantDistrict ForesterColorado State Forest ServiceFLC 72331000 Rim DriveFort Lewis College CampusDurango, CO 81301-3908
PH: 970-247-5250FAX: 970-247-5252E-Mail: [email protected]
http://www.csfs.colostate.edu
Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities
Fireweed along Forest Road 611 on the San Juan National Forest in Dolores County.
