Photo by Lovina Englund
Photo by Natalie Osowski
Forestry and Firewise
Forests are dynamic places, full of life and changing conditions as they respond to fire, landslides, and other disturbances. Much of our natural wealth is built on these forest communities, from the standing wealth of commercial forests to the saturation of precipitation that stores clean water. The wildlife around us, too, depends on these forest communities.
Wildfires are often described as devastating, consuming, and destructive. And although they can be destructive to our homes when we build in forested rural areas, wildfire is also a naturally occurring aspect of healthy forests. How can you balance living where the houses meet the trees (often called the Wildland-Urban Interface, or WUI) with wildfire hazard reduction? The answer is not to be scared of wildfire, but to live with it wisely – to be Firewise.
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE
UCD offers free, no-obligation site visits to landowners in west Klickitat and Skamania Counties for assistance in the following areas:
Forestry
Know your forest. What do you have on your land? Spend some time, learn your plant community, get some advice.
Articulate clear goals. Consider, and write down, what it is you want from your forest in specific terms. What are you hoping to achieve in five years? In 30? Do you want to be able to collect firewood every year? Improve wildlife habitat? Re-plant harvested acreage? Enjoy a trail system around the property?
Make a plan to get there. Be specific. Draw maps. Set out specific activities for the next two, five, ten years to move closer to your goals.
Firewise
Be aware. Wildfire, to some degree, is inevitable, as well as sometimes destructive to human habitations. Wildfires happen every year in grasslands, forest stands, and private property throughout the greater Columbia Gorge.
Be prepared. Learn how to reduce wildfire hazards around your home. Basic ideas include pushing back vegetation 30-plus feet from your house and other structures; spacing trees (especially pines and firs) within about 100 feet of your structures and limbing them 8-12 feet off the ground; replacing fire-prone vegetation (such as arborvitae and juniper bushes) with fire-resistant landscaping; and, keeping an easily-navigable entry and exit to your property. A great set of recommendations can be found here http://www.firewise.org/wildfire-preparedness/be-firewise/home-and-landscape.aspx.
One step at a time. Make a list of priority needs to reduce wildfire hazards to your home and work through it over time. Need another set of eyes on your home to identify these steps? Contact UCD for a free wildfire home hazard assessment.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
As funding allows, UCD offers financial assistance to forest landowners for fuels reduction, cost-share projects, project crew work, and chipping for fuels reduction. Call or email for current offerings.
EDUCATION and Online resources
UCD strives to offer periodic workshops and field days for area landowners. Stay in the know about current offerings by signing up for our eNewsletter. You can read more about forest ecology here, or check out these additional online resources:
• The Department of Natural Resources (the state’s forestry agency) has a Small Forest Landowner Office with links to various resources. Subscribe to their monthly newsletter for a range of small-forest articles and tips. You can sign up on their website: http://www.dnr.wa.gov/sflo
• Similarly, the WSU Extension has a small-forest website, with a large collection of very useful brochures, booklets and more: http://forestry.wsu.edu/resources/
• Oregon State University’s “Know Your Forest” website is a good overview website with many helpful forestry-related tips.
• WSU forestry coached planning online courses may be the single most useful thing a small-forest landowner could do. This well-structured, online class involves a good deal of learning about your forest from the ground up. Over 8 weeks, you’ll receive information and guidance from experienced state foresters and biologists and create your own Forest Stewardship Plan. To get the most out of this course, plan to spend several hours a week outside of the 3-hr class time. View their website for more information: http://forestry.wsu.edu/nps/events/cponline/
Contact us at 509-493-1936 to learn more about any of these services.