Sunday, 27 September 2009 00:00

SUMMIT COUNTY — Friends of the Dillon Ranger District placed signs, planted trees and picked up trash on Saturday along Swan Mountain Road. The volunteers later celebrated completing 50 such projects in 2009 with a picnic at Windy Point Pavilion. FDRD executive director Scott Fussell said about 600 volunteers were involved with this years projects, which included planting 700 to 800 trees and conducting 3 miles of trail maintenance. Read the complete article: Local volunteers plant trees, pick up trash on Public Lands Day

Sunday, 06 September 2009 00:00

DILLON — With 90 percent of Dillon's Marina Park trees lost to the pine-beetle epidemic, the town is taking a serious look at how to be proactive instead of reactive. Instead of concentrating on spraying for insects and saving its pines, Dillon now wants to plan for a restoration effort by creating long-range goals. “It's a progression. It's a long, drawn out process,” said Rick Herwehe, the president of A Cut Above Forestry. His forest-management business took the helm in 2008 to create a tree care, restoration and reforestation plan for the town of Dillon, including ideas for landscaping, wildfire mitigation and general long-term forest health. “Let's be thoughtful and take our time on this.” Read the complete article: Dillon takes proactive approach in reforestation

Friday, 29 May 2009 00:00

SUMMIT COUNTY — Out in the middle of a sun-baked field near the County Commons, a group of Frisco third graders is helping to restore a forest that has been under the gun. Mountain pine beetles hit the 10-acre Fiester Preserve a few years ago, and they hit it hard. What was once a cool, shady stand of lodgepole pines now looks a little like a bare-earth construction site. A few piles of wood chips is all that’s left of the once-dense grove of evergreens. Read the complete article: Frisco students restoring the land