Lower North Fork Fire Residents ask: Why no state help?

Soon after Governor Hickenlooper signed SB-223 into law, I toured the Lower North Fork Area with Joe Duda and Collin Wassink. Joe Duda is a Deputy State Forester for Colorado State Forest Service, and Collin Wassink was the CSFS Project Manager on the Lower North Fork recovery project. I was able to see firsthand how the $1.3 million that Governor Hickenlooper designated to the recovery project in October of 2012 had been used to restore the Lower North Fork fire area. Beginning in August of 2012, multiple meetings were held with landowners to discuss project options, cost estimates, and representative treatments. Based on the input of the wildfire victims, the project focused on:

• The removal of burned/dead/hazardous trees within 200 feet of roadways, driveways, and access/main roads
• Decreasing vegetative density to aid in faster recovery of burn areas
• Promoting regeneration of native vegetation
• Decreasing the risk posed by hazardous trees to people nearby
• Utilization of any and all merchantable material removed during the recovery

The contractor was able to work with landowners either to remove cut trees and logs from the property, or to leave them on site for future use. More than 30 properties were included in the project. A total of 142 loads of logs and 121 loads of chips were removed; 91 loads of the logs were delivered to landowners.