Jun 15, 2021 to Jun 17, 2021
With fire season already beginning in parts of the West, Washington State University Extension Forestry experts say it’s never too late to take steps to protect your home and forests.
Extension educators train landowners to safeguard their property by minimizing fuels in the forest and eliminating combustibles in the vicinity of the home. These methods can substantially lower risks from all but the most intense fires.
Prepare zones of defense
Prioritize the first 40 feet around your home, advises Sean Alexander, WSU Extension’s Northeast Washington Forester. He and fellow Extension foresters follow the National Fire Protection Association’s Firewise USA guidelines, instructing homeowners to defend the home ignition zones, a triple set of boundaries that include the first five feet out from your home’s exterior walls; the next 30 feet; and the extended landscape beyond.
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“Fire refugia” are areas that burn less frequently and/or less severely than the landscape around them. The most fire-resistant parts of vulnerable forests are crucial for supporting post-blaze ecosystem recovery.
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Jun 15, 2021 to Jun 17, 2021
Oregon State University researchers say “topographic templates” can help forest conservation managers develop strategies for protecting and restoring the most fire-resistant parts of vulnerable forests across a range of ecosystems.
That’s important because changing wildfire regimes are affecting forests around the globe, the scientists note, and areas that burn over and over in relatively quick succession may not be able to recover between fires.
May 12, 2021
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced the temporary closure to nine miles of Chopaka Road near the Loomis State Forest. The closure will begin on Wednesday, May 12. Work will continue through the weekend.
The road construction will widen and improve the existing road grade. The road construction is in conjunction with the contractors from the Q Grandview Forest Health timber sale.
“We know these kinds of changes make the user experience just a little more challenging, but the area will be well marked to show visitors where to go,” said
Pat Ryan, Northwest Region State Lands Assistant. “We appreciate the public’s patience as we do the work over the next few days.”
Washington Annual Forest Health Highlights Report Illustrates Challenges
Washington’s forests continue to face an array of challenges brought on by an increasingly dry climate and the consequences of past forest management practices, according to the latest Forest Health Highlights report compiled by scientists with the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
Forest lands endured stressors like ongoing drought conditions and an historic fire season, forcing scientists with the DNR to adapt like never before. Restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic grounded the interagency aerial survey conducted by DNR and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service for the first time since 1947.