Gene Dayton announces his purchase of a Log Lathe

Gene Dayton announced his purchase of  a Round Tec Series 9000 Log Lathe to process beetle killed timber for building material. The lathe can process 900 board feet per day. Bob French noted that finding a place to set it up would be a challenge due to the space needed to stage, unload, store finished product and  dispose of waste.  Carl Spaulding suggested we could make the unit mobile with a generator and move between neighborhoods. Local residents would then be able to process wood from downed trees for their own purposes.  Sandy Briggs referred the topic to the wood products working group.

Brad Piehl introduced landscape assessment as an important tool in forest renewal. He suggested that we should be looking at a broader landscape than we might normally do with the pine beetle problem. How does the eco-system work? How does the landscape work? How do we create a sustainable landscape with diversity once the beetle epidemic has run its course?  By creating a better environment for wildlife and social values and bringing stakeholders with different interests together to work as a group to seek solutions. 

Landscape Assessments involve:

  1. Characterization
  2. Issues and Key Questions
  3. Current Condition
  4. Reference Condition
  5. Synthesis
  6. Recommendations 

Brad cited his experience working on forest restoration in the South Platte watershed.  He spoke about how a big picture analysis leads to greater project benefits.

Benefits of  andscape assessments include:

  1. Vision of Landscape 
  2. Areas targeted within the landscape
  3. Prioritization can be used for many projects
  4. Fast planning step
  5. Actions identified
  6. Move on to projects
  7. Integrated GIS database
  8. Collaborative effort
  9. Adaptive management

Howard Hallman then asked “How do we start a landscape assessment?” Brad replied, “ Figure out what could work here. Bring stakeholders together to determine what can be fast tracked and what will take more time. 

Sandy Briggs commented on the inadvisability of planting spruce and fir to replace lodgepole pine  in landscapes where it does not thrive. Use traditional species such as  aspen and lodgepole instead.  

Brad added that we are so far out of a “natural disturbance” regime that stand replacement of lodgepole may not be compatible with new housing development.

Can laws be passed to restrict building in high fire risk areas?  Bob French commented while we could, but we might not be reelected. Tom stated that some laws are in place but aren’t effective.

 
Brad Piehl explains the process of large scale landscape planning.

 
Working together to find solutions.

 
Can we change people’s attitude to maintain their own land to make it more attractive? The devastation in the Williams Fork area has forced some landowners to clean up their own properties, and as a result they are much more satisfied with their landscape Randy Piper, who is in the process of purchasing the Granby Sawmill, spoke about educating consumers to use locally produced products. He suggested forming alliances among suppliers, other mills, and timber owners to create products that would find a market in Summit County.
 
Don Parsons remarked that a recent New York Times article looked at how western Canada is coping with their pine beetle problem. The theme in Canada is how the timber industry is cooperating with the government to solve problems. 
 
Howard  Hallman observed  the need long term forest planning through collaboration among Federal, state, municipal and private landowners.
 
Intrawest public affairs director Laura Goode  identified Jen Schenk  as the staff person responsible for establishing an environmental plan for pine beetle kill replacement as well as other green building projects at both Copper and Winter Park.
 
Alan Wickert asked if homeowners might be given property tax incentives to help  pay for fire mitigation and other remediation efforts. Both Bob and Tom indicated that since so many agencies are dependent on property taxes such an initiative would be difficult.
 
Our next meeting, set for March 16, will include discussion of the county’s pine beetle plan and how pine beetle legislation at the Federal level is progressing.