What does that look like? Healthy Forest (read fire safe) for the Deschutes River Recreational Homesites #6 What does that look like?

100 years ago

Then came cows and loggers

And Firefighters

And our forest went from this

To this

This is important today because… Fire in healthy ponderosa pine forest Fire in unthinned lodgepole pine forest

Ponderosa Forest

Lodgepole Forest

The match up… Ponderosa Lodgepole Fire adapted spices Long living in healthy forest 300 -400 years Frequent 3-12 year fires but low to moderate fire intensity Park like setting 6 to 20 stems per acre Thick fire resistant bark Deep tap root system Needles that can absorb moisture directly form air (I.e. early morning fog) Disturbed site fire dependent species Short lived less than 60 to 80 years Beetle kill susceptible Fires are generally high intensity total stand replacement fires 100 to 600 stems per acre -thicket Thin bark – any fire can girdle and kill Shallow root system Needles do not absorb atmospheric moisture

Flat Lodgepole root system vs. Deep Ponderosa root system

So how to we get back to

Thin existing trees so branches do not touch Limb branches up 6-10’ Remove any lodgepole less than 4”dbh Plant and promote ponderosa pine Plant and promote aspen and willow on wetter sites Promote native grasses and plants over bitter and rabbit brush (burn or mow once every few years in the fall)

How does this matter to DRRH #6 http://vimeo.com/68342641#at=0