28 min
106 Reforestation Fire Mitigation Pilot, Tavaputs Plateau The County Seat's Podcast
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- Government
This week we are looking at a pilot project taking place on the Tavaputs Plateau that offers another tool for managing fuels on the forest and cutting fire lanes. A private land owner has been treating his own ranch with a technique dubbed roller felling for a decade. The results have been aspen regeneration, more forage for wildlife and a landscape that is less prone to fire.
2020 is on track to set another record for the worst wildfire season with 8 million acres burned as of mid-October.
There is an abundance of fuel on the forest thanks to 100 years of fire suppression and prevention. An abundance of fuel paired with drought has created conditions that ultimately lead to catastrophic fire. We have discussed the need to proactively work on mitigating fuels on the forest in the past.
This private ranch has caught the attention of the Utah legislature and a recent bill that appropriated monies to the state forester to study new methods of fire mitigation.
Our program will highlight the process of roller felling as it was adapted from a technique used to clear a forest for a reservoir. You can read about it here from Popular Mechanics, August 1950 :https://books.google.com/books?id=0dgDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
This week's guests discussing the 106 Reforestation Pilot:
• Mike Siaperas: Founder 106 Reforestation
https://106reforest.com/
• Brian Cottam: Utah State Forester & Director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands
• Darren McAvoy: Extension Assistant Professor of Forestry at Utah State University
https://forestry.usu.edu/contact-us/darren-j-mcavoy
• Mike Fowlks: Director, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
https://naturalresources.utah.gov/dnr-leadership-2
• Tyler Thompson: Watershed Program Dir. Utah Department of Natural Resources
https://naturalresources.utah.gov/dnr-leadership-2
This week we are looking at a pilot project taking place on the Tavaputs Plateau that offers another tool for managing fuels on the forest and cutting fire lanes. A private land owner has been treating his own ranch with a technique dubbed roller felling for a decade. The results have been aspen regeneration, more forage for wildlife and a landscape that is less prone to fire.
2020 is on track to set another record for the worst wildfire season with 8 million acres burned as of mid-October.
There is an abundance of fuel on the forest thanks to 100 years of fire suppression and prevention. An abundance of fuel paired with drought has created conditions that ultimately lead to catastrophic fire. We have discussed the need to proactively work on mitigating fuels on the forest in the past.
This private ranch has caught the attention of the Utah legislature and a recent bill that appropriated monies to the state forester to study new methods of fire mitigation.
Our program will highlight the process of roller felling as it was adapted from a technique used to clear a forest for a reservoir. You can read about it here from Popular Mechanics, August 1950 :https://books.google.com/books?id=0dgDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
This week's guests discussing the 106 Reforestation Pilot:
• Mike Siaperas: Founder 106 Reforestation
https://106reforest.com/
• Brian Cottam: Utah State Forester & Director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire & State Lands
• Darren McAvoy: Extension Assistant Professor of Forestry at Utah State University
https://forestry.usu.edu/contact-us/darren-j-mcavoy
• Mike Fowlks: Director, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
https://naturalresources.utah.gov/dnr-leadership-2
• Tyler Thompson: Watershed Program Dir. Utah Department of Natural Resources
https://naturalresources.utah.gov/dnr-leadership-2
28 min