Amid Pandemic Economy, Record Wildfires, Time For A Civilian Conservation Corp?

An excellent article, and one in which our Fire Chief was quoted! Our Wildland Module spent all summer chipping slash for residents who'd signed up for our Chipping Program and while 300+ homes are now safer, there's much more to do.

"The problem is especially clear in the Elk Creek Fire Protection District around Conifer, in the foothills west of Denver. Jacob Ware, the district chief, has no problem finding tinderboxes of tightly packed spruces and lodgepole pines in residential neighborhoods. Thinning those forests is possible, but it’s a massive undertaking.

Photo by Sam Brasch/CPR News
Jacob Ware, chief for the Elk Creek Fire Protection District, and Nathan Beckman, a supervisory forester with the Colorado State Forest Service, stand in front of a pile of trees from a recent thinning project.

“Mitigation is extremely laborious,” said Ware. “It takes a lot of people. It takes a lot of money.”

According to an upcoming report from the Colorado State Forest Service, an area larger than the size of Delaware requires immediate attention to address forest health, watershed protection threats and fire mitigation risk. The report estimates completing the task would cost about $4.2 billion.

Ware said he would welcome any extra federal help to tackle the issue, including a new CCC. He added the program should not only provide work, but also encourage young people to build a whole industry around fire mitigation. After all, even if the country manages to thin millions of acres of forest, it would still need to find a place for all the wood."

Read on at www.cpr.org/2020/10/11/amid-a-pandemic-e...n-conservation-corp/