Wildfire came to within ½ mile of this ranch in 2000, it has come close in other years, as well. We have had several small ground fires on the ranch, however our clean forest has not allowed the fire to travel up to the treetops. By keeping the trees pruned and thinned we have removed most of the ladder fuel.

Protection from wildfire – vital.

How do we protect?

Any fire has three requirements:

1. Fuel.

2. Oxygen (air).

3. Heat.

Jackson felling Ponderosa pine in 2003.

We have burned many piles of slash on the ranch, the results of pruning and thinning.

The heat from the slash burning is of great concern, as it can cause the usually dry forests to to become even drier, turning the pine needles in the live trees brown, creating a worse condition that we were trying to prevent.

Regarding Heat: We have control over when we burn. We do not burn in August [unless we have had a good soaking rain].

The heat from a slash fire is fierce. I do not build a fire bigger than a 6’ circle, and do not pile slash higher than 2’. Jack builds bigger fires – 12’ circles and slash piles 4’ high. Of course he is younger than I am, and able to work harder to keep the fire under control. Both of us have additional slash nearby that we can put on our fires as they burn down.

Regarding Air: We try not burn under windy conditions. We listen to the Weather Person.

Henry Rodgers watching a slash pile burn. This area is piñon, juniper and cedar mostly with a few ponderosa pines here and there.

Regarding Fuel: How do we control Fuel?

By Pruning and Thinning.[1]

Actually, pruning and thinning is only the first step. It doesn’t remove combustibles. It only enables us to do so.

Branches and trees removed by Pruning &Thinning are called ‘slash’.
How do we remove slash?

1. Burning. 2. Chipping. 3. Reducing and placing in arroyos.

Burning – We make dozens of small piles of slash (Green branches with pine needles) Depending on the weather the piles will compact while drying, we then light the smaller pile with a squirt of diesel fuel.

Chipping is becoming a popular method of slash removal. Unfortunately, we do not own a wood chipper. Thus, we are not familiar with the pros and cons of chipping.

Reducing – Slash is fluffy. The solution to this problem is to remove the sub-branches from the main branches so that the whole can become compacted as it is laid into the various arroyos. A whole tree can thus be reduced to a few cubic feet if it is so treated. It is labor intensive, but it is a good method.