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Monday, February 10, 2014

Planning Ahead - Wildfire Mitigation

'It wasn't raining when Noah built the ark'.  It pays to plan ahead when you live in the mountains. That especially applies when you are doing wildfire mitigation. We therefore are cutting dead trees down and pruning limbs on live trees higher than we can get in the summer. I cut three trees that had died and were located next to the garage. If they had blown over they could have hit the garage and if we have a wildfire dead standing are powerful tinder so they need to come down now not when we are threatened We don't have them to contend with now and we have 6 dead trees remaining yet. 

It only makes sense to do wildfire mitigation now when it is cool outside and we can take advantage of the snow even though it is a little more difficult doing this on snow shoes. Last year we received 165' of snow or about 100" below our normal. This year we have received 94" to date and have about 90 days of winter left. That means that we will need to receive 2" a day to make our average or suffer two years of below average snowfall. Reduced snowfall equals increased wildfire hazard. 

If we don't do our wildfire mitigation now and end up receiving less than average snow between now and then we could be caught behind trying to catch up. So why not do it now and be as ready as we can? No particular reason I can think of. With our stone exterior, the mist system, trees cut away from the house and trimmed up about 20' high our chance of surviving a wildfire is highly increased in case we are unable to evacuate. When the snow melts we will stack the dead wood where it is not a hazard and mulch the limbs. 

This time of year we have extra time from moving snow so why not take advantage of the great outdoors and do our wildfire mitigation.  It is good to be out in the fresh air and even work up a sweat while working outside in the cool temperatures. It is also good to know that time in the winter that would or could normally go to waste inside is being better utilized outside. Still have two large trees to drop but they should not be a problem and will give me logs for milling when we get time and the weather cooperates.  

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