Hosted by: Jefferson Conservation District

Overview

Jefferson Conservation District (JCD) seeks to apply ecological restoration principles to the management of private land in the foothills of Jefferson County, Colorado and surrounding areas.

Field trip attendees will hike around JCD’s forest restoration projects and learn about the successes and challenges of implementing mechanical forest thinning and noxious weed management in an effort to restore broader ecosystem function and resilience in the face of wildfires, floods, and climate change.

Recommended for field trip: long pants, long-sleeved shirts, rain jacket, sturdy closed-toed shoes, broad-brimmed hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, backpack. Note that cell-phone service may not be available for some portions of the day.

Meals & Refreshments: boxed lunch, water bottles, and snacks will be provided.

Detailed Description

A century of wildfire suppression and other management practices across low-elevation forests (~9,500 feet) of the Western US have led to tremendous increases in tree density and subsequent wildfire extent and severity. During the same time period, this landscape has also experienced a tremendous increase in the number of people living in this fire-dependent ecosystem.

The presence of these communities within the forest necessitates aggressive wildfire suppression which in turn allows trees and wildfire fuels to build up even more. The result is dense, uniform forest habitat lacking in floral and faunal diversity. And because not all fires can be controlled, the continuous canopy of trees allows fires to become much larger and far more severe than how they historically behaved prior to the mid-1800s. Historic lightning-caused fires occurred every few years to a few decades and actually supported many ecosystem services that Native Americans and later settlers found valuable. Today’s fires, however, often damage or eliminate those ecosystem services altogether and lead to loss of life and property.

Using equipment designed for the logging industry, foresters and restoration practitioners are putting that technology to use not to harvest valuable timber but to remove trees and create a more open and diverse forest that is ready to receive inevitable wildfire with favorable outcomes for communities and the ecosystem.

Attendees will view completed and active forest restoration projects, including logging equipment in action. Travel between sites will be provided by bus, however participants will be required to hike/walk on uneven terrain up to 9,000 feet in elevation. The weather in this dry climate is expected to be warm (20 – 27 degrees C/70-80 degrees F) and sunny. Light afternoon showers and cooler temperatures are possible.