• HOME
  • Forestry
    • Forestry
    • Forestry and Land Mgt
    • Wildfire Defense
    • Fire Mitigation Action
    • Density / Thinning
    • Health Checklist
    • Insect Control
    • Forestry Web Links
    • Forestry Interest Questionnaire
  • Nursery Trees
    • Nursery Trees
    • Tree Transplanting
    • Forest Restoration
  • Wood Products
    • Wood Products
    • Specialty Woods
      • Specialty Woods
      • Wood Accent Walls
      • Countertops & Tables
      • Custom Mantels
      • Color Pine
      • Timber Shelves
      • Gray Wood
      • Benches & Material
      • Flooring & Paneling
      • Live-Edge Trim
    • Decorative Aspen
      Poles & Logs
    • Lumber & Timber
      • Cabin Lumber
      • 1 Inch Boards
      • 2 & 3 Inch Boards
      • 4, 5, & 6 Inch Beams
      • 8, 10 & 12 Inch Beams
      • D-Logs
      • Log Siding
      • Lap Siding
    • Poles & Logs
      • Overview
      • Pole & Log Prices
      • Decorative Aspen
        Poles & Logs
      • Log Wraps/Post Covers
      • Aspen Furniture Logs
      • Railings
    • Fences
      • Board + Slab
      • Coyote Poles
    • Firewood
      • Westcliffe pick up
      • Black Forest pick up
      • Firewood to-cut
    • Wood Treatment
    • Important Information
    • Product Quote Form
  • Showcase
    • Westcliffe Gallery
    • Black Forest Gallery
      • Showroom
      • Benches & Material
    • Specialty Woods
    • Pavilions
      • Westcliffe Pavilion
      • Black Forest Pavilion
    • Kestrel Boxes
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Mission Statement
    • Len Lankford
    • Full-Circle Forestry
    • The Greenleaf Model
    • Visual Model
    • Using Small Trees
    • Holistic Values
    • Community Action
    • Westcliffe & Our Area
    • Affiliations
    • News
    • News Archive
  • Contact Us
    • General Info
    • Forestry Interest Questionnaire
    • Product Quote Form
    • Order & Shipping Info
    • Map & Directions
    • Careers
  • Request a Quote
  • For quick response call / text 719-429-4404
  • or email len.at.greenleaf@gmail.com

         

Forestry

Forestry and Land Management

Wildfire Defense

Fire Mitigation Action

Density / Thinning

Health Checklist

Insect Control

Forestry Web Links

Forestry Interest Questionnaire

 

 

 

 

We support the

 

 

 

Density & Thinning

Keeping your forest healthy by giving your best trees the room they need to thrive.

photo of overgrown Doghair stand

Photo caption: A multi-age doghair stand which has had no management for decades. Photo by Judy von Ahlefeldt

In a "doghair" * stand, like the one in the picture above, many of the small diameter trees can act as ladder fuels in a forest fire which would jeopardize the entire stand. In this condition, many of these trees will likely die from competition, breakage, rot, blowdown, or insect infestation. Instead of leaving the stand as is, a better option would be to remove most of these small diameter ladder fuels in the understory. When this kind of treatment is done to the doghair growth, and the overstory trees are reasonably spaced, they can form an open, park-like stand that is far more firesafe, has healthier trees, and more diverse ground vegetation.

*"Doghair" is a forestry term derived from saying "it's as thick as the hair on a dog's back".

FORESTS  or  THICKETS?

Seems like more and more residents are realizing that their "Forest" is really a "Thicket" in great jeopardy for wildfire.  Areas are so dense (see above photo) that fire hazards are obvious.  Besides looking like wrecked and abandoned properties, they show forestry action is obviously needed.

Why is this important? For one thing, bark beetle populations tend to increase after trees are damaged from storms. Ips beetles have been seen already invading limbs broken in an April snow, as well as small trees cut earlier in the spring.

Trees that bowed or broke during snowstorms were weak- too tall for their diameter and likely dry and water-stressed.   Most of these are in the thickets of dog-hair stands all too common in pine and conifer areas of Colorado.

These unhealthy trees are also fuel for fires. They compete with each other and with the big trees nearby. They deplete shallow surface groundwater, causing springs to be weaker, and starving each other for available moisture. They cover the ground with pine needles and crowd out grasses and wildflowers.

The Greenleaf slash disposal site on Rosita Road near Westcliffe gives landowners a wonderful opportunity to correct forest health problems before they set the stage for a disaster. You can do it yourself or have us help!

Plan now to remove excess trees so your trees will be a forest, not a tangled thicket of unhealthy fire-hazard trees. Removal and thinning are much more important than pruning efforts -- it's a matter of significant reduction of biomass initially and as it grows back.

***  Even after decades of work in Colorado, the ladder fuel problem is still extremely severe and likely growing worse statewide.  Sustainable forestry practices that balance forest maintenance and removal of excessive growth are needed on a periodic basis to protect our Forests from becoming Thickets.  The "Future of the Forest" lies in the management choices of its landowners.  ***