Saturday, May 12, bring the kids to the Crystal Fire: Let’s Get Growing event
from 9am to 2pm.
- Learn how to plan, plant and protect our future forests after the pine beetle moves on.
- Meet some of the RCVFD fire fighters who have done such a great job protecting us from wildfire this year.
- Plant a seedling with U.S. Senator Mark Udall, who plans on visiting in the late morning.
- Talk with Colorado’s Wildlife Managers about living with bears and mountain lions.
- Kids who take part in all the activities will get a certificate and free seedling with which to start a new forest at their home.
It’s fun and it’s free! Go to www.treefarmer.com/crystal.html to register and find directions to the event just off Buckhorn Road.
New from the
Colorado Forestry Association
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Feel the Power!
on the new Colorado Tree Farmer’s YouTube channel!
Our new video, The Power In Community Collaboration,
highlights one of the many ways the wonderful people
involved in Tree Farming have found to collaborate to more effectively reduce the damage being done to our forests and improve their health and sustainability for generationsto come.
We’ll be adding videos of inspirational stories like this to
our new YouTube channel as quickly as they can be
produced.
You can help
If you are already collaborating with your neighbors to
improve forest health or have discovered a method to
more effectively reduce the damage that is being done to our forests, please let us know. We can help you tell your story with video. Better yet produce a video of your own highlighting your efforts.
If you don’t know where to start ask your grandchildren
for help. Many high schools offer classes on video
production, and tens of thousands of young people are
already producing amazingly sophisticated videos every
day. Letting your grandchildren teach you a new skill
would be a terrific way to get them interested in active
forest management. You’ll all enjoy the experience and
you may produce a video that could inspire others to
begin actively managing their forest.
Visit the Colorado Tree Farmer YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/
ColoradoTreeFarmers/videos
for some ideas for stories.
Join Us
Certification in the American Tree Farm System is voluntary. The certification process incorporates established standards and guidelines. All properties certified under the three certification options must conform to the Standards of Sustainability for Forest Certification. This can require substantial time and effort.
However, part of the mission of the Colorado Tree Farmers is to inform the public of the need for active forest management of private forested property and encourage landowners to get started. We therefore encourage ALL owners of forested property and anyone else interested in the health and sustainablitlity of our forests to attend our meetings, tours and other events. We will be happy to share our knowledge with and answer questions from anyone.
If you would like more information, click the "Join Us" link to the right of this article and let's talk.
Living with Wildfire
Larimer County Tree Farmers, Linda Masterson and Cory Phillips, lost their home and Tree
Farm in the Crystal Fire last April. Linda has
chronicled their experiences dealing with insurance, government, and the many things that most of us don't think about until after a fire occurs. It is well worth your time to read
her account...and take notes.
READ MORE
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Preparing for Wildfire
Jim Webster, the Community Wildfire
Protection Planner, for Boulder County informs me that Boulder County has produced a very informative website dedicated to their Community Wildfire Protection Plan. Included
in it is a series of videos about Boulder Couty wildfires that are outstanding.
More information worth your time.
CWPP website
Boulder Wildfire Videos
USFS and CSFS Announce Forest Health Survey
Results
Bark Beetle Epidemic – 400,000 new acres
The aerial survey results revealed that nearly a half-million new acres were infested in 2010; these are acres that had not previously been affected by the mountain pine beetle epidemic. The total number of acres impacted by the
entire mountain pine beetle outbreak since
1996 in Colorado and southern Wyoming is
now 4 million acres.
- The bark beetle infestation grew by 400,000 acres in Colorado and southern Wyoming in 2010. The bark beetle continues to spread north and east and is now moving rapidly along the Front Range and into ponderosa pine trees.
- Pockets of beetle activity detected in 2009 in low-elevation ponderosa pine stands along the Front Range and into southern Wyoming expanded dramatically in 2010.
- 2010 Aerial Survey Map
Spruce Beetle Outbreaks – 150,000 new acres
- Spruce beetles are most active in
southern Colorado and Wyoming where a number of significant wind events caused thousands of acres of fallen trees, making them susceptible to infestation.
- In 2010, 150,000 new acres of spruce mortality were detected in Colorado and southern Wyoming, which is double that
of 2009.
Read the full report at:
Pass this on to your neighbors.
Someone should do something!
Come to the next Tree Farm meeting in your area or contatct stumpmaker@gmail.com
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Links to the latest, most practical, and most up to date information on continuing spread of the mountain pine beetle and the increased danger and cost of larger and more intense wildfire
that may result.
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Landowners Guide to Living with Bark Beetles
In case you haven't already identified the trees that were infested by pine beetle during last fall's flight, you won't be able to miss them soon. About this time of year the needles on last year's infested trees will begin to turn reddish brown.
Although the tree is dead by now, the beetles
in it are very much alive. If you don't cut the tree and treat the wood, there will be enough beetles flying from each infested tree to kill 4,
6 or even more trees this coming fall.
An excellent publication can help you decide
how to effectively treat infested wood and
slow the spread of the beetle.
Read the Guide
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