Steve Hill talked about the progress of the Summit County Community Wildfire Protection Plan. 

Kevin Urey from Denver Water (DWB) discussed plans for its property in the Dillon Reservoir watershed, some several hundred acres.

Forester Chuck Denis developed Denver Water’s plan for the pine beetle infestation, which includes thinning and removing dead trees and other fire abatement projects. Kevin cited the need to develop a plan to get the Forest Service to respond promptly.  He said a mill in Mt Rosa will take pine beetle product but there was no long term certainty for milling companies to locate in the this area, which would reduce shipping costs. A 50,000 acre parcel of land with 25 years of wood product, would be required to attract the mill industry. Chuck says there is two years of work to protect and clean up DWB land. 

While DWB has good relationship with town of Dillon to mark and remove trees, they are not finding a market for the wood. Kevin talked about the effect that a deduced canopy might have on watershed.  He thought that new technology such as satellite imagery can be used to identify pine beetle trees. 

Patti Maguire made contacts with people who are using beetle kill to create new products. She is working with the state to have a training session for home owners who want to spray their own trees.

Howard Hallman asked if more funding be arranged to speed up the process of removing trees.

Mike Goldblatt of Lam Tree Service in Evergreen spoke about preventive spraying. His company has sprayed 50,000 trees with excellent results. Lam Tree Service has a volume rate of 8 dollars a tree based on large acreage.  Spraying is recommended up to a height of 30 feet or where the trunk tapers to 6” or less. New guidelines now recommend going up as high as you can.  The greatest vulnerability to negatively impact  watershed areas. The chemicals are used with a “sticker” to try to keep the chemical on the trees. 

Carbaryl (Sevin®) is moderately to very toxic. Carbaryl is lethal to many nontarget insects. The pesticide is more active in insects than in mammals. Carbaryl is moderately toxic to aquatic organisms, such as rainbow and lake trout, bluegill, and cutthroat. It is also moderately toxic to wild bird species, with low toxicity to Canada geese

Permethrin (Ambush®, Pounce®, Astro® ) Permethrin is classified as "Restricted Use" due to toxicity to fish and aquatic organisms. Sale and use of Restricted Use pesticides are limited to licensed pesticide applicators or their employees, and only for uses covered by the applicators certification and the pesticide label. 

Bifenthrin (Onyx®) is a broad-spectrum insecticide that will kill a wide variety of insects, including some that are beneficial. Also, the signal word for this product is WARNING. May be fatal if swallowed and causes skin irritation and moderate eye irritation. Given the method of application for this product on trees (spray directed upwards, unless the applicator is elevated), anyone who intends to apply it needs to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves, others, and other non-target organisms; i.e. follow the label very carefully. Homeowners may want to contact a pest control operator (PCO) for making the application.  

Mike recommended the last two products for environmental and applicator safety as well as better efficacy. 

What is the effect of chemical residual effect on snowfall runoff?  Not too much according to Denver Water because of short half life, by the time it gets to the plains, there is not much danger. Local water sources may be another story. 

Carly Wier of Summit Recycling warned sprayers to dispose of pesticides properly and added that disposal of pesticides is time-consuming and expensive..

The Colorado Forest Restoration Act has sponsors in the state house: Josh Pembry, and Gary Lindstrom.  This proposal, developed by Carly and her team at the Bighorn Center for Public Policy, would draw funds from the state energy severance tax and create a grant pool for communities with CWPPs to fund specific projects. It also includes a provision for creating consumer products from beetle kill wood..

John Taylor reported on meeting with Rick Newton of the Forest Service. USFAS has created maps describing areas going through NEPA process. Most work won’t get started until late 2006. Firewood collection days could be scheduled.