The Forest Stewardship Plan Implementation Schedule

Without the implementation schedule that the forester developed the plan would be overwhelming.  2007 and 2008’s jobs seem to be manageable for us. Especially now that we have the crawler.  The plan is for 10 years.

The property is divided into 10 different stands.  This year we are concentrating on stands 4,5 and 10.  These are on the eastern part of the property.

With the crawler we need to upgrade the access trails on these stands.  The trails will serve as fire breaks and access to other stands.  The plan recommends not adding other trails until needed.

In addition to access trail upgrades, our major efforts will be dwarf mistletoe removal.   If possible  trimming is best, but most of the trees are infected high up, so cutting the tree down is the option.  In most of stand 4 thinning is not necessary,  and in stand 10 we really need to try to save the ponderosa that is left from the mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestation from the 70’s.  We need to concentrate on keeping the large, established trees.  Spraying these large trees against MPB may be a last resort.  Climbing trees with sharp saws may be in my future.

2009 is a big year.  We need to start removing the ladder fuels in stands 1 and 2.  An example is Gamble Oak.  Also in stands 1,2 and 3 we need to construct a shaded fuel break.  I’m unclear about what this is and how it is different from a fire break, so more on that later.  And lastly, if the spring is nice and wet we need to start planting ponderosa pine seedlings in stand 10.

Insect and disease inspection and control is an ongoing job.  I’ve heard that MPB is starting to be a bigger problem in the foothills.