Woodland Park Healthy Forest Initiative

In the News

Teller County Commissioner and WPHFI Leadership Team member Jim Ignatius made the news in Canon City, where he was speaking about WPHFI. Thanks Jim! See the article here.

Open House to Discuss Catamount Fuels Project

COLORADO SPRINGS UTILITIES AND U.S. FOREST SERVICE SEEK PUBLIC INPUT AT AN APRIL 23RD MEETING.

THE Pikes Peak District of the U. S. Forest Service (USFS) and the City of Colorado Springs Utilities are seeking public comments regarding a proposed 25,000-acre fuel reduction project. They will host an open house on Thursday, April 23 from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Colorado Springs Utilities’ Leon Young Service Center Pikes Peak Room, 1521 S Hancock Expressway, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-4801 to discuss the proposal.

Overview

In response to concerns about the potential for large-scale wildfire on Pikes Peak, the District Ranger Brent Botts initiated an environmental assessment for the Catamount Fuels Reduction Project. The objective of the assessment is to identify priority areas that suitable for treatment where fuels reduction activities can be implemented to improve forest conditions making the forests less susceptible to catastrophic wildfire. It will be used as a guide for the desired forest conditions and prescribed fuel treatments. A summary and maps can be viewed under Projects and Plans in the Fuels Treatment Projects category, here.

Colorado Springs Utilities counts on the Pikes Peak watershed to supply municipal water for the city, so through its cooperative agreements with the USFS, it’s participating as a partnering agency along with the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS). Springs Utilities will be assisting with the funding for the 2009 – 2010 National Environmental Policy Act assessment (NEPA), as well as supporting the development of fuel-mitigation alternatives and eventual implementation of fuels reduction projects on the watershed lands of interest.

Springs Utilities is also contracting professional services to conduct watershed assessments within and around the Catamount project area to identify critical watershed areas subject to high wildfire risks, flooding, and sedimentation specific to Utility water supplies and infrastructure. Results from the contracted assessments will be incorporated into the NEPA process as supporting information to assist with the development of fuel mitigation alternatives following USFS and NEPA guidelines and policies.

City-owned watershed lands will also be included in environmental assessment for the purposes of evaluating potential impacts of forest management activities around or near the City-owned lands. At the time the Catamount project moves to implementation, Springs Utilities will coordinate with the U.S. Forest Service and CSFS to accomplish fuels mitigation activities as planned for both Forest Service and City-owned watershed lands.

Again, the public and others interested in fuels treatment, or watershed protection, are invited to attend the open house on Thursday, April 23 from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Colorado Springs Utilities’ Leon Young Service Center Pikes Peak Room, 1521 S Hancock Expressway, Colorado Springs, CO 80903-4801.

Divide Slash Site Opening Soon!!!!

THE Slash Site is set to open Friday April 17th

And new this year, we are debuting a website for the Divide Slash Site 

www.divideslashsite.com

Please forward this link to anyone who might be interested!!

Also, click here to check out our slash site brochure: slash-site-trifold

We need everyone’s help!

The WPHFI is wonderful partnership of key stakeholders from the Woodland Park area, and it is a great opportunity for the community and surrounding area. The objective of the Initiative is to thin the densely stocked ponderosa pine stands surrounding the community in order to make the area more resilient to catastrophic wildfire. These forest treatments would not only make the forest more resilient to catastrophic wildfire, but would also improve the health of individual trees, making them more resistant to bark beetle infestation, and more resilient to drought. As an additional benefit to the treatments, the Initiative is endeavoring to remove and chip as much of the forest thinning as possible, then utilize this woody biomass as a source of renewable energy. I’m excited about the prospects of what can be achieved, but the Initiative’s partners can’t do it by themselves: we need your help! We need single landowners and subdivisions to get engaged. We need a community effort! It’s a great opportunity to help our forest.

Bob Leaverton

Forest Supervisor, Pike & San Isabel National Forests
and Cimarron & Comanche National Grasslands

RoundTable Update

FRRT Meeting, February 5, 2009

Last week’s Front Range Round Table (FRRT) meeting was in the FEMA building at the Denver Federal Center. Security was intense entering the circa-1960s nuclear-attack resistant building, but the meeting room could easily hold the large crowd that attended. We had three commissioners attend, including Teller County’s Jim Ignatius (who is also a member of our Leadership Committee), as well as commissioners from Boulder and Gilpin counties. Other WPHFI members attending included Carol Ekarius and Jonathan Bruno of CUSP, and Mike Smith of the Colorado Renewable Resource Cooperative.

Spirits at the FRRT were running high. Our efforts at collaboratively building approaches to forest health and wildfire mitigation seem to be paying off. The WPHFI was held up as a model of where such efforts are going. In a nutshell, these kind of focused and community-driven programs are where work will be happening in the future.

State Forester Jeff Jahnke updated the group on possible funding that may come from the economic recovery legislation to help with our work. And, Jim Ignatius and Paige Lewis (of The Nature Conservancy) discussed activities and plans coming out of the Governor’s Forest Health Advisory Council. Thanks to efforts of the 24-member council, the State Legislature is considering 11 bills this session that will help Coloradoans address issues such as mountain pine beetle.

And speaking of pine beetle, the ecological committee is going to be sending out drafts of a document on scientists’ understanding of the pine beetle impacts to lodgepole pine, and the potential for it to explode into the ponderosa pine. We will send the document to all our members as soon as its available.

Pikes Peak Ranger District Recognized for Local Sustainability Efforts

Pikes Peak Convention & Visitors Bureau honors the Pikes Peak Ranger District in the “Green Leader” category for their effort to enhance local sustainability in 2008.

Terry Sullivan, the President and C.E.O of the Visitors Bureau said, “This is the first year the Visitors Bureau has recognized the tourism industry for the important role they play in sustainability.  Millions of people visit Colorado Springs each year.  The impact our industry has by providing quality service while protecting the natural resources is no better exemplified than by the efforts of the Pikes Peak Ranger District.”

According to Pikes Peak District Ranger Brent Botts, “I am honored to receive this award on behalf of the Pikes Peak District.  It is important that “government agencies” model sustainable operations in the community.  Our employees have formed a Green Team to identify and embrace sustainable practices at work and at home.  I’m proud of our progress and there will be more to come.”

Just two years ago the Pikes Peak Ranger District (PPRD) received the Regional Forester’s Honor Award for Sustainable Operations.  The employees are committed to saving energy and cost-saving measures. Recycling, carpooling, replacing old fixtures and appliances with energy saving models are just some of the many changes the district has made.  Their efforts to conserve resources and improve the work environment were recognized as the most far-reaching and successful in the 5-state Rocky Mountain region.  According to Botts, “These changes opened the district employees’ eyes to what is possible.”

The District is currently working closely with other community organizations such as the Woodland Park Healthy Forest Initiative to gain better understanding of biomass utilization, Colorado Springs Utilities to facilitate more efficient biomass utilization and opportunities in energy production, and Fort Carson to provide forest biomass for utilization in energy production.

In addition, the U.S. Forest Service has implemented energy-saving measures on a national scale regarding Fleet Management. An environmental management system (EMS) is a globally accepted organizational management tool that is now being used by the U.S. Forest Service to address sustainability, environmental issues and related health and safety matters.

Members of the Pikes Peak District Green Team are interested in talking with anyone wanting more information on Sustainable Operations.  Botts said, “Bottom line, this is a great opportunity to lead by example and we have some great examples to share of how you can implement an effective sustainability program at a very low cost.”

Jim Ignatius Awarded Commissioner of the Year

Teller County Commissioner, and member of the Woodland Park Healthy Forest Initiative Leadership Committee, Jim Ignatius, was named Commissioner of the Year by Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI).

CCI is the nonprofit organization representing county commissioners from around the state of Colorado. Each year, commissioner members of CCI nominate individuals from among their membership for recognition as Commissioner of the Year. The Board of Directors of CCI then votes on the selection. Jim was chosen in part for his active involvement in forest health issues throughout Colorado. For example, he has served on a number of committees, testified before Congress, and acted as the spearhead for the development of Teller County’s Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

Congratulations Jim

Cutting trees

OK, call me crazy. Last night I started humming Led Zepplin’s good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share, but the words going through my mind were good trees, bad trees, you know I’ve known my share. This really is a bit crazy, I admit. But it’s also true that me, a treehugger at heart, now looks at trees differently.

We just bought a new place off Teller 1, and when I look at the trees around it, I see a whole lot of them that need cutting. There are the three old pines up against the house, and the one tangled in the electrical wires. There are the ones on the hill that are blocking the little winter sun that we get. And there are the ones that are bunched in a draw, far too tight for their own good. There are the ladder fuels from firs and spruce, that definitely need trimming up a ways, and the dead aspen set up like pick-up sticks among another tight bunch of pines. Our forest isn’t healthy, and so are trees aren’t all good.

I still love trees. I really do. And I love our forests. They are beautiful. They provide services to us, ranging from holding the soil to capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. They provide habitat for our wildlife. And they can heat our buildings, and make electricity. How can you not love trees? But loving them doesn’t mean never cutting them.

Carol Ekarius
Executive Director,
Coalition for the Upper South Platte
www.uppersouthplatte.org

In the News

The Woodland Park Healthy Forest Initiative is in the news! The Pikes Peak Courier View did an article on the thinning at the City of Woodland Park’s Meadow Wood Sports Complex. The City, Colorado State Forest Service, and CUSP are partnering to make this project happen.

Hello world!

Welcome to the new site of the Woodland Park Healthy Forest Initiative (WPHFI). This is a partnership project between the United States Forest Service, the Colorado State Forest Service, Teller County, the City of Woodland Park, the Coalition for the Upper South Platte, the Governor’s Energy Office, the City of Colorado Springs Utilities, the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at CSU, the local business community, home owners and home owners’ associations, and others. Our goal is to improve forest health, reduce beetle infestations, and reduce the potential impact of forest fires in and around the Woodland Park area.