Firewise Landscapes Inc.

Consult and Implement

• Firewise is a Full Service Forestry and Land Ecology Company Throughout the West

• We Currently Manage Roughly 40,000 Acres• Clients Range in Size from 1 Acre to 17,000

Acres • We Work With Large Acre Ranches to Large

Insurance Companies to Conservation Holders Subdivisions to Individual Clients on Small Acreage

• We Consult and We Also Do the Work

Form and Function

• Blend Landscape Architecture with Sound Forestry and Applied Ecology

• Today’s Western Landowner

Western Forestry / Beetle Dynamics and Aspen

• Brief Discussion of the Western Conifer Forest and the Quaking Aspen Forest

• Current Conditions of the Conifer Forests• Current Condition of the Aspen Cover• Frequently Asked Questions• As a Real Estate Broker - What to Look For?• What does Firewise do?

Bark Beetles – Why?

Conifer Forests Life Cycles

• Lodgepole Pine Example– Pioneers– Sun, Water, Nutrients– Semi-Serotinous Cones– Competition Creates Canopy– Canopy Creates a Shady Understory – Shady Understory Provides Habitat to Shade

Friendly Conifers

Lodgepole Pine Forest Example

• Sub Alpine Fir, Engelmann Spruce, Colorado Spruce, Douglas Fir Grow Underneath the Lodgepole

• They Outcompete the Lodgepole and Stress the Lodgepole Forest

• In order to combat this competition there is a fire. Serotinous cones open and spread seed across a blank canvas because the fire took all competition away

• Start All Over Again

Disturbance - Fire

Disturbance - Fire

No Fire

• There is an incredibly dense forest. • Lots of Competition• Lodgepole Forest Needs a Disturbance• The Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) has

physiologically evolved with the Lodgepole, Ponderosa, Limber and Whitebark Forests of the West

• The MPB plays the role of the fire. Opens up the forest. Reduces competion.

Beetles Relationship

• Natural Disturbance• Crude But Effective Way of Opening Up the

Forest and Reducing Competition

Attack Process and Life Cycle

• D. menziessii (Doug Fir Beetle) – Elevation and Climate Based Flight (April)

• D. rufipennis (Spruce Beetle) (May)• D. ponderosae (MPB) (July-Aug)

• Bell Shaped Flight Pattern

Attack Process and Life Cycle

Preventative Spray

•Small Acre Areas – Areas Surrounding Homes

•Works Very Well to Prevent New Beetle Attacks

•Gets the good insects with the bad insects

Treatment - Pheromone

• Pheromone Manipulation – First Remove Currently Infested

Treatment - Infrastructure

Logging is an intensive form of management. A good option for opening access to the property, as well as a revenue producer.

Treatment–No Infrastructure

•Using a machine like this requires no installation of roads because there is no extraction. It can be considered a lighter alternative to logging.

Habitat

• Play the role of a fire without having the fire• Open up the forest, promote objective species,

reduce competition• Get more light and temperature to the forest

floor • Elk

– 65% of diet grasses and grass like plants– 26% browse– Within 100 yards of cover

Elk Habitat

•Forage, Cover, Water, and their Arrangement on the Landscape Influence Habitat

Aspen

Aspen

• Fire Exclusion Results in Decadent Aspen Stands

• Regenerate Aspen• Great Habitat Enhancement

– Hunting Ranches– Cattle Ranches– Fire Protection

Revenues and Grants

• Revenues Go to Covering Costs to Forest Treatment

• Firewise Sources and Writes Grants through a number of Different Funding Sources

• Grants and Revenues Can Cover the Entire Cost of Projects

Resource Management

• No Conflict of Interest• Biomass Utilization Markets• Traditional Markets

Carbon Markets

Live Water Relationship

Contact

• www.firewise.net• Complimentary Initial Consultations