The possibility of a wildfire in the forest is perhaps our greatest fear, but we can mitigate this threat. An assessment of each resident's property is critical to this effort, followed by a long-term plan for periodic maintenance. Ask yourself the following questions and determine what actions you need to take.
1. Have you picked up all of the dead branches and excessive fallen needles from your property?
The degree of effort required to clean up this type of material depends upon the amount of the material. If the amount is minimal, you may be able to clean it up and recycle it in one season. If you have several acres to maintain you may need to develop a plan to cover several years.
2. Have you trimmed low hanging branches?
As a pine tree grows, lower branches are deprived of sunlight and die. It is a natural pruning process. However, the dead, dry branches remain on the tree for a long time. This condition, commonly called "laddering," provides fuel and a method for a wildfire to reach the upper part of the tree. Your long-term maintenance plan must include removal of lower level dead branches.
3. Have you removed trees that are too close together?
A forest constantly regenerates itself. This process is random and many young trees sprout near the trunk of an older tree or in groups. These saplings become overcrowded, often bending or leaning, and will never develop into healthy trees. You can help the forest by thinning dense groups to allow growing space between individual trees. The remaining trees will grow much better without extreme competition for water, minerals and sunlight. It is also important to remove mature trees which are overcrowded. When older trees are too close the crowns (fully branched tops) touch and create a path for wildfires to jump from tree to tree as rapidly as 300 feet in 15 seconds.