Boulder County’s Forest Health Outreach Program
& Saws and Slaws
Ryan Ludlow - Outreach Forester Boulder County, Colorado Land Use Department
Western Adaptation Alliance Webinar
Webinar Overview
ü Forest Health Outreach Program ü Lessons Learned
ü 2010 Fourmile Fire, 2013 Flash Flood ü Community Driven Saws and Slaws ü Ques=ons
Forest Health Outreach Program
for Private Landowners Program Launched in Fall 2008
Why? Mountain Pine Beetle What? Engage local communi;es with Ed. & Outreach Goal: Encourage all landowners to be great stewards of their backyard forest. County Overview: Boulder County, Colo Keys to Success/Outcomes: ü Residents are engaged ü Residents are educated ü Change Behavior
ü Form Partnerships ü Create Resilient Communi;es ü Healthier Forests
ü Community Mee=ngs and Workshops ü Wildfire mi;ga;on, bark beetle management, forest health improvement ü We go to the community – host programs in their neighborhood
ü Ac;ve eNewsleKer with 640 individuals signed up ü Individual One on One Site Visits ü Mini Neighborhood Workshops ü Always available by Email/phone ü Forest Health Outreach Webpage ü Firewise Communi=es
Mul=pronged Approach to Outreach
Forest Health Outreach Program
for Private Landowners
ü Wildfire Mi;ga;on Challenge ü Community Chipping Events ü Community Forestry Trainings and Workshops ü Hikes and Volunteer Forestry Events
October Wildfire Awareness Month
www.BoulderCountyWildfireAware.org
Community Chipping Reimbursement Program – Seed money, community driven – 50% Reimbursement – 2012 -‐ Awarded $17,500 to 9 communi;es – 2013 – Awarded $26,700 to 9 communi;es
Community Chipping Days: ü 2012 – Events in Bar K, Le[hand, Fourmile, and Coal Creek Canyon
ü 2013 – Events in Jamestown, Bar K
“Turning Outreach into Individual Action”
Forest Health Outreach Program
for Private Landowners
Community Forestry Sort Yards • Free location to dispose of wood (slash and logs) • Promotes forest stewardship on private land
ü Bark Beetle Management ü Wildfire Mitigation ü Forest Health Improvement
“Turning Outreach into Individual Action”
Community Forestry Sort Yards
“Turning Outreach into Individual Action”
Two Locations: • Allenspark – North County Site • Nederland – South County Site
Sort Yard Program
• 2012 season was a record setting year • Saw an 82% increase in usage from prior years • Over 6500 individual loads of slash and logs dropped off • 2011 and 2010 season received 6268 loads • Increased private land mitigation!
Fourmile Canyon Fire
When: Sept. 6, 2010 Where: Foothills 5 miles W of the City of Boulder Evacua=on: 3500 Homes Results: 169 Homes Destroyed, 6,181 acres
Home Survival during Fourmile
ü 65% of homes in burn perimeter survived
ü 306 out of 474 homes ü Well mi;gated homes helped
save others!
Homes Don’t Have to Burn: 20+ years of Research
Key Findings: ü Fires are inevitable but…. ü Research strongly suggests we can s;ll have large fires without the large numbers of homes lost.
ü Homeowners must take ac;on!
You can change the way fire behaves on your land.
Landowner Ac=on Helps Saves Homes near Gold Hill
Fire Start
Homeowner Mitigation Changed Fire Behavior
Landowner Ac=on Helps Save Homes near Gold Hill
Fire Start
Homeowner Mitigation Changed Fire Behavior
Individual Action à Community Action ü Many Individuals were taking ac;on on their own land ü But… to see no;ceable change we need community ac;on!
The Answer: Crea;on of à
What is it?
Program Launched in Spring 2011 Founded by: Community Members in Coal Creek Canyon
ü Similar to an Amish Barn Raising, but… No Amish and No Barn…
Goal à Building a Stronger Community Through a Healthier Forest
ü Neighbors working with neighbors Saws = Chainsaws | Slaws = Coleslaws
How it Works: ü One project per month ü Neighborhood Champions find project sites ü Work 4 hrs (SAWS)à break à Potluck(Slaws) Where did the idea come from? • Residents who agended a Forest Health Outreach Program
• Community Driven Idea!
The Program is “Catching Fire” • Spread to town of Nederland in 2012 • Spread to Sugarloaf in 2013 Program Stats: April 2013 • Over 1000 volunteer hours • Over 32 homes mi;gated • 93 enthusias;c par;cipants • Oodles and gobs of slash removed from the forest
Crea=ng more Resilient Communi=es • Crea;ng an “army” of trained sawyers • Learning hands-‐on forestry skills • Being part of ac;ve forest management • Seeing before and a[er mi;ga;on September 2013 – Flash Flood • 17 inches of rain in 5 days • Floods washed out every major canyon in the county
A Thank You Note from Flood Survivors “Thank you very much to you and your crews! Patti and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your coming all this way to help us out. I don’t have to tell you how important the work you did is. And pretty much everything your crews did was stuff that was either beyond my abilities as a cutter, or was a lot easier with your equipment, or the kind of thing that required a raft of folks who know their way around the mountains and chainsaws. (We have had a lot of very kind and wonderful folks come up to help us out, but they are mostly from town and frankly they lack the skills that we mountain dwellers take for granted). I do hope our paths wills cross again!” ~Thanks again Rob and Pak.
Crea=ng Resilient Communi=es
Safety Training • Safety is of utmost importance • Require sawyers to agend a chainsaw safety course before cukng
• They only work 4 hrs for a reason • Safety talk and debrief before and a[er each project
Boulder County Forest Health Program Connec=on • We help fund part of Saws and Slaws through our chipping reimbursement program
• Offer technical tree marking prior to each project • Offer Educa;onal Trainings to gain support of projects.
Why Saws and Slaws is Working • Truly Community Driven • Contagious – volunteers want to come back! • Seeing what effec;ve mi;ga;on looks like • FUN! • Building community around forestry! • Neighbors meet each other!!!
Like the idea? Start it in your community! • Designed to be easily replicable • They want to spread the program to others • Visit them online:
www.SawsandSlaws.com www.facebook.com/SawsAndSlaws
Ryan Ludlow Forestry Education & Outreach Coordinator
Boulder County Land Use - Colorado
Sign up àForest Health Outreach eNewsletter www.BoulderCounty.org/ForestHealth
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 720.564.2641
Thank You! Questions?