A CYCLE OF FOREST RENEWAL
By Cindy Kleh / Photos by Carter Photographics

In the mid-1600s, an extended drought baked the Rocky Mountains and outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (MPB) infestations dotted the forests. In the summer of 1684, a bolt of lightening ignited a massive surface fire that swept through the forests with a heat intense enough to open lodgepole pine cones that had been hanging for decades, just waiting for a crown fire.

After the fire, the rains and melted snow ran down soil that no longer had plant roots to hold it to the mountain. The streams overflowed with ash-polluted runoff, eroding the banks and choking the channels with sediment. But within a few years, the streams again ran clear and the forest eventually regenerated from black to its familiar dark green.

In the mid-1800s, this area was known only to Indian tribes and a few hardy mountain men who came up to trap and hunt. But by the time the first automobile drove into Grand County, the logging industry was in its heyday. The early pioneers suffered many shortages – fresh fruits and vegetables, virtuous single women, hot baths and plowed roads – but they had an abundance of pine trees, a sawmill in Fraser and a railroad to carry the wood away. They cut down trees wherever it was convenient and created open meadows and pastures.

Grand County’s population took a nosedive when the Depression hit. Construction and demand for wood screeched to a halt, and the pine forests grew back vigorously. Occasional outbreaks of mountain pine beetle erupted, but the winters were consistently long and cold back then, and the burrowing larvae rarely survived to hatch and fly to another tree.

In 1938, the Fraser Experimental Forest was established to study the effects of logging on watersheds. Large swaths of trees were clear-cut to determine the effect on snow pack, stream flow and sedimentation. These experiments continue today, but Mother Nature has sabotaged the control group. Since the turning of the millennium, a beetle epidemic has taken over the forest, and the scientists of the Fraser Experimental Forest will soon know what happens to a watershed when almost all the trees are removed.

The beetle population grew exponentially when consecutive years of drought weakened an already aging pine forest. Global warming encouraged the epidemic to spread by allowing the beetles to survive at higher elevations without sustained subzero temperatures frigid enough to kill the beetle larvae. Stir in a policy of preventing forest fires and a green-leaning aversion to logging for the past 50 years, and we have a recipe for disaster.

The US Forest Service estimates that more than 1.5 million acres of lodgepole pine in Colorado are infested with MPB at the present time, a 50 percent increase in dying trees since the 2007 count. The beetle has almost eaten itself out of house and home in Grand County, consuming up to 90 percent of the lodgepole pines.

NEW VIEWS EMERGE -
This is the summer when the reality of the MPB infestation will begin to sink in for many homeowners here. The next step is obvious: get rid of the dead trees. If nature is left to run its course, the trees will eventually blow over and rot back into the soil. Or a wildfire could quickly do the job.

Because of the sheer amount of standing dead in Grand County's forests right now, creating a firebreak around buildings should be at the top of home maintenance lists this year. Removing trees will likely be the most expensive of all. It will be painful to look at the tree stumps and newly created views of the neighbors, and it will take a few years for even small trees to grow back. But with a little planning and planting, your property could end up looking even better.

LANDOWNERS' HEARTBREAK -
Dave Zink and Karen Waeshle moved to Fraser Valley in 1992 and purchased 80-acres off County Road 8 that are interlaced with Nordic ski trails. They took over the Nordic ski lodge/B&B, Morningstar Ranch, and helped connect the trails to the extensive trail system of Devil's Thumb Ranch.

From the start, Dave and Karen were proactive, responsible land stewards, devising a land management plan in the early 90s with help from a private natural resource consultant. The plan called for the thinning and replanting of two to five acres per year, but from the first beetle activity in 2002, thinning work stepped up. In the end, all the acres have been thinned, and some had to be clear-cut.

"People ask me if I wasted my time and money taking out so much density, but it made the final phase much easier," muses Dave, who took advantage of the wood market before it dissolved to costing $600 to haul $700 worth of logs. "Last summer the writing was on the wall; it was too expensive to selectively cut. None were going to survive except the 600 we sprayed."

They removed 3,500 trees last summer; over the past 15 years, more than 15,000 have been removed. "We realized that the market for wood would get worse if we waited, and if we just let it go, we wouldn't have defensible space from wildfires. Within 10 to 15 years, those ladder fuels will fall to the ground and be three to four times as expensive to remove."

"We cried about it six years ago," admits Karen. "It's going to be windier on the ski trails, but some days when the sun is out, it will be warmer and we'll have better views."

THE POWER OF NEIGHBORHOOD COOPERATION -
Mandy and Mike Hanifen knew that their Stillwater neighborhood near Grand Lake was becoming a fire hazard. They own a logging business, Wildfire Mitigation & Restoration, and Mandy has an Associates Degree in Fire Sciences and is a long-time employee of the US Forest Service.

The Hanifens also knew that mitigating their own property would not be enough. The Stillwater subdivision borders heavily used public land, and would need defensible spacing against campfires gone awry. Since none of the neighbors (including the Hanifens) wanted to form an HOA in order to be eligible for grant money, they formed the Stillwater Fire Abatement Coalition as a nonprofit with a steering committee of seven full-time residents. The first meeting was held with a collective agreement that no matter what happened, everyone would still remain friends.

By banding together, the neighborhood received about $28,000 in matching grant funds from community assistance programs, the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado State Forest Service, to help with the costs of identifying and removing infested trees. After the trees were removed, the coalition petitioned to have the neighborhood annexed into the Grand Lake Fire Protection District.

LEFTOVER STUMPS -
It is possible to have tree stumps removed if the homeowner desires a lawn or garden where the trees used to be. Mike Knox of Mike’s Stump Grinding says it can take up to 30 years for a stump to decompose on its own, and if you dig it out, it will still cost money to put it in the landfill or have the pole yard burn it.

“This is better for the environment,” says Knox, who uses a skidster with a rotating head that grinds stumps below the surface of the ground. The small machine can work fairly close to buildings with little impact to the soil.

WHERE WILL IT ALL GO? -
The mountain pine beetle has killed almost an entire generation of lodgepole pine across Canada and the Western United States at a scale that has never been recorded in history. According to a recent press conference held by the US Forest Service, out of the 1.7 million acres of lodgepole forests in Colorado, about 1.5 million are infested with MPB, and this will leave 45-60 million tons of standing dead wood, harvestable for a decade or so.

Beetle kill wood grain has bluish streaks caused by a fungus that the MPB leaves behind. This prevents the tree from taking up water from its roots and fighting off the infestation with increased sap production. While the stain does not affect the integrity or strength of the wood, it is considered a lower grade. But a growing number of homeowners are choosing beetle kill to earn Built Green™ or LEEDS points for using already dead logs for construction.

CUTTING WHAT THE MARKET WANTS -
Mike Jolovich, a pilot and owner of Ranch Creek Ltd. just outside of Granby, takes all kinds of wood, but lately the loads are almost all beetle kill. He says that about three years ago as he was flying above Grand County forests, the writing was on the wall: the beetle was probably going to win and something would have to be done with all that dead wood to keep it out of the landfill.

Today, his mill at the bottom of Highway 125, is a beetle kill wood processing plant, complete with modern machinery designed to cut wood at lengths and diameters corresponding to current market needs.

The process begins with an electronic merchandising system that gleans out defective logs, then cuts and sorts usable ones. “To remain profitable these days with the low prices for wood, I needed new equipment with larger capacity,” explains Jolovich, who started his mill business in 1992 processing 100 loads of wood per year. He now has the technology to do 1,200 loads.

A log lathe was recently purchased (with federal matching grants) to begin making log home kits, an industry that is currently supplied entirely by out-ofstate mills.

During the winter months, unusable slash is incinerated in the air curtain destructor, which leaves very little residual ash, creates virtually no smoke, and is the only lawful way to burn stumps in this county.

USING THE ENTIRE TREE -
Hester’s Log and Lumber is a mill just outside of Kremmling, and the only mill in the county that is nationally certified to grade logs. Cindy Hester, who owns the mill with her husband, Kent, a former Forest Service Timber Management Officer, sees a five-to-ten year window for capitalizing on beetle kill wood before it is too rotten to use.

“This wood is very stable wood,” she says. “It doesn’t twist or turn as much as green wood because of the way the sap runs out of it when it dies.”

Much of Hesters’ orders go to Denver outlets with huge lumberyards, but locals can order directly from Hester’s and have it delivered. There is also a show room on site that displays different looks in beetle kill for siding, floors, walls, ceilings and trim.

According to Cindy, there are no unusable products to burn. “We sell everything: from firewood (available for $5 a cord, $100 for split wood), to shavings and saw dust used for landscaping and animal bedding.

CONVERTING WASTER TO GREEN FUEL -
Mark Mathis thinks that pellet stoves are the heating choice of the future. They are “very clean with low emissions and low particulates and it’s as easy to use as gas and more affordable. We plan to offer the most affordable prices in the country (under $200 a ton) to locals, and we’ll deliver right to their homes.”

Mathis and Tom McGarry are owners of Confluence Energy, a pellet manufacturing plant that recently opened in Kremmling. With the MPB epidemic spreading into Summit and Routt counties in the next few years, Kremmling is already central to logging operations. The $10 million plant hopes to produce up to 120,000 tons of pellets per year, just over the amount needed for all Colorado residents who burn pellets (which are all imported from out of state) at the present time.

FINDING THE RIGHT LOGGER -
For most homeowners, do-it-yourself tree removal is not recommended. You'll be living with the results for a long time to come, and it could cost thousands of dollars in damage if a tree unintentionally falls on a structure or person. When searching for a competent logger, shop around, and ask questions, such as:
• Do you have insurance?
• How many years has the company been logging?
• How long will the job take and when can it start?
• How will the trees be removed and where will the removal access be?
• Will final removal of slash and logs be taken care of by the tree cutters or will another contractor be needed?

The price per tree can vary depending on the total number being cut and whether the removal will be selective or a clear cut. Steep slopes, wetlands, limited accessibility and muddiness can also increase the total cost.

Logging can occur almost any time of the year. Since most homeowners don't think about hiring a logger until spring or take action until summer or fall, winter is a slower season. Damage to the soil can be minimized by snow cover.

After the trees are removed, a homeowner has the options of piling up slash for a later burn, having the slash hauled away, or chipped and spread on the forest floor to protect the exposed soil.

Many loggers catch up on slash burning, the cheapest method of removing unusable wood, during the winter months. The DNR requires a burn permit for any fire larger than three feet in diameter and two feet high.


READ MORE STORIES FROM THIS ISSUE:
• The Green Parade: Green Building Certification
• The Past Meets the Future: An Extraordinary Grand Lake Home
• Special Lifestyle Section
• 2008 Feature Articles