Booth Creek Fuels Reduction Project

TOWN OF VAIL SUPPORTS THE PROPOSED ACTION

Click here to read the full letter


WHY TOWN OF VAIL SUPPORTS THIS PROJECT

Wildfire is a critical part of the natural ecosystem that makes Vail unique. Historic fire has shaped the landscape for eons and the communities’ plants have adapted to live with fire. At the same time, these important ecologically beneficial fires create hazards for our homes, businesses and outdoor playgrounds. Through the Fire Adapted Vail initiative, our community envisions a day when wildfires can burn on the landscape in ecologically beneficial ways while minimally impacting our safety and community vitality. Vail strives to support programs and projects that prioritize community safety, restore health to our forests and shrublands ecosystems, develops diverse and robust habitat for wildlife, supports healthy watersheds and maintain a high level of natural aesthetics to support our recreationally based economy. To achieve these goals, we must develop and support projects that create a diversity of plant communities and as well as support a variety of young, middle-aged and mature forest stands. Using different management techniques, we may be able to protect high-value mature trees while starting the next generations of other trees and shrubs.

The Vail Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) identifies 5 goals to meaningfully reduce wildfire danger to the community. Goal 2 within the CWPP identifies “Decreasing the probability of landscape scale high severity wildfire events.” The Booth Creek Fuels project helps to achieve this goal by breaking up the continuity of the Gore Range landscapes. This project is strategically designed to minimize fuels in the Spraddle Creek, Booth Creek and lower Black Gore Creek drainages. These treated areas could be utilized during a wildfire event to contain the fire to a single drainage or smaller area, minimizing post fire water impacts over large areas.

FOUR TREATMENT TYPES

The Booth Creek Fuels project proposes to use a variety of different treatment types to achieve the project goals (refer to NOPA goals. The NOPA goals will not be available until the USFS releases the public scoping documents.). All the proposed treatment types have been successfully used on similar projects in the Vail Valley over the past 20 years. These techniques follow recommendations of natural resource professionals supported by significant scientific research.



1. Broadcast Burn

The mountain shrub and aspen ecosystems that cover many of the south and west facing slopes in the project area have evolved to rely on frequent less intense fire to regenerate. These areas historically would burn every 20-40 years with fast moving but less intense fire. These fires burned the older dead and dying parts of the pants while at the same time causing the plants to resprout from the roots. Since the founding of Vail little to no fire has been allowed to burn in much of this area causing a buildup of dead vegetation and minimizing the amount of new sprouting from the roots.

The proposed broadcast burn treatments intend to reintroduce fire in a controlled way under conditions that mimic natural historical conditions. To successfully complete these treatments fire managers will likely conduct many smaller burns spread over several years to achieve the project goals.

Broadcast burning has the ability to treat a large amount of area over a short period of time using a relatively small amount of people.

Watch the video below for results of the burn done in Spring of 2021. Click here for the handout.


2. Hand Treatment - Cut/Pile/Burn

Hand treatments using chainsaws is a common practice that has been used on many different projects in Vail. Projects such as West Vail’s Intermountain and Deer Underpass projects have successfully used a cut, pile and burn prescription on over 100 acres of land.

This treatment is used in areas where it is desirable to remove a large quantity of fuel such as limbs and whole trees and where the use of treatments such as broadcast burning may be hard to control. Material that is cut is piled into manageable size piles and burned when snow or significant precipitation reduces the risk of out-of-control fire. This piling also helps to reduce the amount of smoke that is produced when the material is burned.

Hand treatments can be highly selective in what material is cut and what is left behind. In forest stands where trees have strong deep root systems such as spruce and fir stands, trees can be thinned out leaving behind a stand that looks very pleasing and has a much lower amount of fuel for wildfire. In stands containing mostly lodgepole pine, thinning often results in a significant amount of blown over trees post cutting due to the small and shallow root systems. In areas like this hand treatments may remove most of the mature trees but may leave isolated spruce or fir trees as well as small trees growing in the understory.

This type is treatment is very labor intensive and may take a longer period to complete and costs more per acre. These types of treatments are used in areas where it is:

  • Desirable to be highly selective
  • No roads exist or slopes are too steep for logging equipment
  • Highly sensitive areas
  • The material being cut has little to no economic value


3. Mechanical - Cut/Pile/Burn

Mechanical fuels reduction has been occurring in the Red Sandstone and Red, White and Blue area for the past 10 years. This treatment uses traditional logging equipment such as feller bunchers and skidders to remove large fuels such as whole trees. Like hand treatments, mechanical treatments can selectively thin out forest stands but due to the size of the equipment, the openings that are left must be much larger. In stands of primarily lodgepole pine the treatment typically involves removing all mature trees due to concerns with trees being blown over after treatment.

In most of the previously completed work areas, mechanical fuels treatment was completed by hauling off the economically valuable logs and piling the remaining material in large piles to burn during the winter. This type of treatment is dependent on having roads nearby that log trucks can haul material on. In areas with poorer road access, logging equipment may still be used to cut the trees, but all the material will be piled in place for later burning.

This type of treatment can complete large areas relatively quickly with small crews. Mechanical treatments may cost a fraction of hand treatment costs. Mechanical treatments disturb the landscape more than other types of treatments however, even very large logging equipment is specially designed to minimize impacts such as soil compaction. Mechanical treatments are used in areas:

  • Large area needing to be treated economically
  • Area needs to be treated quickly (decreases number of days in area)
  • Disturbance of ground is desirable for natural regeneration
  • Access is available via existing roads
  • Slopes are less than 35%


4. D-Space - Homes and Infrastructure

To protect homes and infrastructure from wildfire it is critical that all structures have good defensible space: vailgov.com/wildfireready. What the building is made of and the first 100 feet around it are the most important thing for the protection of that individual structure. Many of the homes and infrastructure in East Vail are built near the National Forest boundary and much of the vegetation within 100 feet is actually on USFS property. Private property owners across East Vail are continually working to improve their homes and manage the vegetation within 100 feet of their building. Extending this work onto the USFS property is critical to ensuring the protection of the adjoining lots.

Activities that would reduce risk to nearby structures include:

  • Removal of dead and dying trees and shrubs
  • Thinning of trees and shrubs to create gaps
  • Removal of bottom branches from trees and shrubs

Buildings that do not touch USFS property will also benefit from this type of work. When buildings catch fire during a wildfire, they create an increased risk to all the buildings near time. Clear evidence from recent fires such as the Marshall Fire display this danger. Burning structures produce much larger amounts of heat than burning vegetation as well as they throw larger and hotter embers. Recent research shows a significantly increased risk of fire spread between homes for buildings within 30 of each other. Link to urban conflagration map

MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Treating the wilderness

Wilderness is a term generally used in the community to describe an area that is open, wild, and free of the influences of our human development. An important part of our community's feel and economic vitality is directly linked to the close and abundant access to outdoor recreation. In 1964 the federal government enacted The Wilderness Act. This act created a legal definition of wilderness which was designed to provide permanent protection to areas containing wilderness characteristics.

As stated in the Act: "A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." - Howard Zahniser

In 1976 Congress designated the Eagle Nest Wilderness Area and today the wilderness area includes 133,496 acres straddling the Gore Range between Eagle and Summit Counties. View the Wilderness Area Map: fs.usda.gov/recarea/whiteriver/recarea/?recid=81106

The Wilderness Act strictly defines acceptable uses and practices within the designated wilderness area to preserve the primitive character of the land. The guiding principle within these areas is management by nature where man is just a visitor on the landscape. Wilderness areas are highly regulated including the prohibition of:

  • Camping or having fires within 100 feet of trails, streams or lakes
  • Groups in excess of 15 people
  • Dogs off-leash
  • Use of wheeled equipment such as a bike, wheelbarrow or game cart
  • Use of mechanized equipment such as a chainsaw, helicopter or gas-powered pump

Management activities of nearly all types are generally prohibited within designated wilderness areas. Exceptions are made for the management of recreational facilities such as trails, however, primitive tools such as hand tools and hand saws are generally used to complete maintenance work. National policy does allow for exceptions to be made for the reduction of fuels in situations that present high risk to nearby communities. In these cases, the policy directs the USFS to use tools that impact the natural character of the environment to the least extent possible.

The proposed actions use this direction and also take into account the ability to safely and effectively complete the proposed actions. The treatments recommended for this project within the designated wilderness area are focused on the use of prescribed fire in the least impactful way possible. Consideration will be given to using natural features such as snow and rocks to control fires instead of man made features such as hand dug fire lines. Some techniques such as lighting the fire with helicopters may be used in an effort to increase safety and efficiency and decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the project.

CORE Act

As recently as 2021, legislation titled the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) act was introduced into congress which among many other things seeks to expand the Eagles Nest Wilderness area in a portion of East Vail primarily in the Spraddle Creek drainage. In the fall of 2021 Vail Town Council signed a letter supporting the passing of the CORE act with the statement that consideration should be given to the completion of fuels reduction work within the wilderness area. Read the letter.

A portion of the NEPA study area is within the proposed Spraddle Creek inclusion of the CORE act. If the CORE act is passed by Congress prior to treatment, the USFS would have to consider restrictions on treatment options based on wilderness rules at the time of treatment.


TOWN OF VAIL SUPPORTS THE PROPOSED ACTION

Click here to read the full letter


WHY TOWN OF VAIL SUPPORTS THIS PROJECT

Wildfire is a critical part of the natural ecosystem that makes Vail unique. Historic fire has shaped the landscape for eons and the communities’ plants have adapted to live with fire. At the same time, these important ecologically beneficial fires create hazards for our homes, businesses and outdoor playgrounds. Through the Fire Adapted Vail initiative, our community envisions a day when wildfires can burn on the landscape in ecologically beneficial ways while minimally impacting our safety and community vitality. Vail strives to support programs and projects that prioritize community safety, restore health to our forests and shrublands ecosystems, develops diverse and robust habitat for wildlife, supports healthy watersheds and maintain a high level of natural aesthetics to support our recreationally based economy. To achieve these goals, we must develop and support projects that create a diversity of plant communities and as well as support a variety of young, middle-aged and mature forest stands. Using different management techniques, we may be able to protect high-value mature trees while starting the next generations of other trees and shrubs.

The Vail Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) identifies 5 goals to meaningfully reduce wildfire danger to the community. Goal 2 within the CWPP identifies “Decreasing the probability of landscape scale high severity wildfire events.” The Booth Creek Fuels project helps to achieve this goal by breaking up the continuity of the Gore Range landscapes. This project is strategically designed to minimize fuels in the Spraddle Creek, Booth Creek and lower Black Gore Creek drainages. These treated areas could be utilized during a wildfire event to contain the fire to a single drainage or smaller area, minimizing post fire water impacts over large areas.

FOUR TREATMENT TYPES

The Booth Creek Fuels project proposes to use a variety of different treatment types to achieve the project goals (refer to NOPA goals. The NOPA goals will not be available until the USFS releases the public scoping documents.). All the proposed treatment types have been successfully used on similar projects in the Vail Valley over the past 20 years. These techniques follow recommendations of natural resource professionals supported by significant scientific research.



1. Broadcast Burn

The mountain shrub and aspen ecosystems that cover many of the south and west facing slopes in the project area have evolved to rely on frequent less intense fire to regenerate. These areas historically would burn every 20-40 years with fast moving but less intense fire. These fires burned the older dead and dying parts of the pants while at the same time causing the plants to resprout from the roots. Since the founding of Vail little to no fire has been allowed to burn in much of this area causing a buildup of dead vegetation and minimizing the amount of new sprouting from the roots.

The proposed broadcast burn treatments intend to reintroduce fire in a controlled way under conditions that mimic natural historical conditions. To successfully complete these treatments fire managers will likely conduct many smaller burns spread over several years to achieve the project goals.

Broadcast burning has the ability to treat a large amount of area over a short period of time using a relatively small amount of people.

Watch the video below for results of the burn done in Spring of 2021. Click here for the handout.


2. Hand Treatment - Cut/Pile/Burn

Hand treatments using chainsaws is a common practice that has been used on many different projects in Vail. Projects such as West Vail’s Intermountain and Deer Underpass projects have successfully used a cut, pile and burn prescription on over 100 acres of land.

This treatment is used in areas where it is desirable to remove a large quantity of fuel such as limbs and whole trees and where the use of treatments such as broadcast burning may be hard to control. Material that is cut is piled into manageable size piles and burned when snow or significant precipitation reduces the risk of out-of-control fire. This piling also helps to reduce the amount of smoke that is produced when the material is burned.

Hand treatments can be highly selective in what material is cut and what is left behind. In forest stands where trees have strong deep root systems such as spruce and fir stands, trees can be thinned out leaving behind a stand that looks very pleasing and has a much lower amount of fuel for wildfire. In stands containing mostly lodgepole pine, thinning often results in a significant amount of blown over trees post cutting due to the small and shallow root systems. In areas like this hand treatments may remove most of the mature trees but may leave isolated spruce or fir trees as well as small trees growing in the understory.

This type is treatment is very labor intensive and may take a longer period to complete and costs more per acre. These types of treatments are used in areas where it is:

  • Desirable to be highly selective
  • No roads exist or slopes are too steep for logging equipment
  • Highly sensitive areas
  • The material being cut has little to no economic value


3. Mechanical - Cut/Pile/Burn

Mechanical fuels reduction has been occurring in the Red Sandstone and Red, White and Blue area for the past 10 years. This treatment uses traditional logging equipment such as feller bunchers and skidders to remove large fuels such as whole trees. Like hand treatments, mechanical treatments can selectively thin out forest stands but due to the size of the equipment, the openings that are left must be much larger. In stands of primarily lodgepole pine the treatment typically involves removing all mature trees due to concerns with trees being blown over after treatment.

In most of the previously completed work areas, mechanical fuels treatment was completed by hauling off the economically valuable logs and piling the remaining material in large piles to burn during the winter. This type of treatment is dependent on having roads nearby that log trucks can haul material on. In areas with poorer road access, logging equipment may still be used to cut the trees, but all the material will be piled in place for later burning.

This type of treatment can complete large areas relatively quickly with small crews. Mechanical treatments may cost a fraction of hand treatment costs. Mechanical treatments disturb the landscape more than other types of treatments however, even very large logging equipment is specially designed to minimize impacts such as soil compaction. Mechanical treatments are used in areas:

  • Large area needing to be treated economically
  • Area needs to be treated quickly (decreases number of days in area)
  • Disturbance of ground is desirable for natural regeneration
  • Access is available via existing roads
  • Slopes are less than 35%


4. D-Space - Homes and Infrastructure

To protect homes and infrastructure from wildfire it is critical that all structures have good defensible space: vailgov.com/wildfireready. What the building is made of and the first 100 feet around it are the most important thing for the protection of that individual structure. Many of the homes and infrastructure in East Vail are built near the National Forest boundary and much of the vegetation within 100 feet is actually on USFS property. Private property owners across East Vail are continually working to improve their homes and manage the vegetation within 100 feet of their building. Extending this work onto the USFS property is critical to ensuring the protection of the adjoining lots.

Activities that would reduce risk to nearby structures include:

  • Removal of dead and dying trees and shrubs
  • Thinning of trees and shrubs to create gaps
  • Removal of bottom branches from trees and shrubs

Buildings that do not touch USFS property will also benefit from this type of work. When buildings catch fire during a wildfire, they create an increased risk to all the buildings near time. Clear evidence from recent fires such as the Marshall Fire display this danger. Burning structures produce much larger amounts of heat than burning vegetation as well as they throw larger and hotter embers. Recent research shows a significantly increased risk of fire spread between homes for buildings within 30 of each other. Link to urban conflagration map

MORE BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Treating the wilderness

Wilderness is a term generally used in the community to describe an area that is open, wild, and free of the influences of our human development. An important part of our community's feel and economic vitality is directly linked to the close and abundant access to outdoor recreation. In 1964 the federal government enacted The Wilderness Act. This act created a legal definition of wilderness which was designed to provide permanent protection to areas containing wilderness characteristics.

As stated in the Act: "A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain." - Howard Zahniser

In 1976 Congress designated the Eagle Nest Wilderness Area and today the wilderness area includes 133,496 acres straddling the Gore Range between Eagle and Summit Counties. View the Wilderness Area Map: fs.usda.gov/recarea/whiteriver/recarea/?recid=81106

The Wilderness Act strictly defines acceptable uses and practices within the designated wilderness area to preserve the primitive character of the land. The guiding principle within these areas is management by nature where man is just a visitor on the landscape. Wilderness areas are highly regulated including the prohibition of:

  • Camping or having fires within 100 feet of trails, streams or lakes
  • Groups in excess of 15 people
  • Dogs off-leash
  • Use of wheeled equipment such as a bike, wheelbarrow or game cart
  • Use of mechanized equipment such as a chainsaw, helicopter or gas-powered pump

Management activities of nearly all types are generally prohibited within designated wilderness areas. Exceptions are made for the management of recreational facilities such as trails, however, primitive tools such as hand tools and hand saws are generally used to complete maintenance work. National policy does allow for exceptions to be made for the reduction of fuels in situations that present high risk to nearby communities. In these cases, the policy directs the USFS to use tools that impact the natural character of the environment to the least extent possible.

The proposed actions use this direction and also take into account the ability to safely and effectively complete the proposed actions. The treatments recommended for this project within the designated wilderness area are focused on the use of prescribed fire in the least impactful way possible. Consideration will be given to using natural features such as snow and rocks to control fires instead of man made features such as hand dug fire lines. Some techniques such as lighting the fire with helicopters may be used in an effort to increase safety and efficiency and decrease the amount of time it takes to complete the project.

CORE Act

As recently as 2021, legislation titled the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) act was introduced into congress which among many other things seeks to expand the Eagles Nest Wilderness area in a portion of East Vail primarily in the Spraddle Creek drainage. In the fall of 2021 Vail Town Council signed a letter supporting the passing of the CORE act with the statement that consideration should be given to the completion of fuels reduction work within the wilderness area. Read the letter.

A portion of the NEPA study area is within the proposed Spraddle Creek inclusion of the CORE act. If the CORE act is passed by Congress prior to treatment, the USFS would have to consider restrictions on treatment options based on wilderness rules at the time of treatment.


  • Forest Service issues draft decision for fuels project next to Town of Vail

  • Town of Vail Supports Proposed Action

    March 15, 2022

    Scott Fitzwilliams
    Forest Supervisor
    White River National Forest
    900 Grand Ave
    Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

    Dear Mr. Fitzwilliams,

    Please accept this letter as formal comment for the Booth Creek Fuels Treatment Project and thank you for the opportunity to comment on this project. The Town of Vail would like to formally support this proposed action with consideration of the comments below. The Town of Vail is keenly aware of the elevated risk of wildfire. As a co-developer and signatory to the 2020 Vail Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP), we feel that the USFS and Town of Vail have strong alignment in the commitment towards reducing wildfire risk to Vail and the surrounding Forest.

    The proposed action as described in the Notice of Proposed Action directly addresses several goals of the CWPP and when completed will address a high priority treatment area as identified in the CWPP. We feel that this project will directly decrease wildfire risk to neighboring communities and infrastructure and complement the wildfire mitigation work that is occurring on Town of Vail land as well as adjacent private lots. Please consider the following comments in making your decision.

    Comment 1: Due to the proximity of designated Wilderness to developed lots within Vail it is critical that fuels reduction work occur within the Eagles Nest Wilderness Boundary. While the Town understands the intent of minimizing the trammeling of the Wilderness area, significant consideration should be given to ensure managers have adequate tools to effectively meet the goals of the project. Of particular importance is the use of aircraft and UAS for ignitions, monitoring and containment. Due to the steep and rigid terrain, hand ignitions will be slow and will have considerable risk to personnel on the ground. This will limit the size of burns and slow the implementation. Arial ignitions can rapidly ignite large areas greatly increasing efficiency and safety of operations. This will decrease the total number of burn days needed to meet the project goals and also decrease the number of days the project impacts the adjacent community, recreation and the wildlife in the area.

    Comment 2: The Project Design Criteria (PDC) are well thought out and address the specific concerns of impact to each of the identified resources. Taken individually each PDC seems relatively easy to comply with causing minimal impact to overall project implementation. Collectively the PDCs may present overall challenges to rapid implementation of this proposed action. Operating windows in the project area are already very small due to extended winter conditions and potential burn windows are even smaller due to the need to meet air quality regulations and ideal fuels conditions. In making your final decision we encourage you to consider the collective impact of the PDCs on project implementation. It is our community’s desire to implement this proposed action as soon as practical. It is widely recognized that the wildfire environment is rapidly changing, and it is a matter of when, not if, we have a wildfire affecting our community.

    Comment 3: This project takes into consideration Strategy 6 of the Vail CWPP, “Create compartmentalization across the planning area where unplanned wildfire can be managed for multiple resource benefits when appropriate”. Units 104, 106 and 108 are of particular importance in achieving this goal within the project area. The combination of these units creates a north to south compartmentalization along the Spraddle Creek drainage connecting the bottom of the drainage to the tundra on Bald Mountain. This compartmentalization will be a critical holding feature for a fire in surrounding watersheds and may prevent landscape scale ecosystem losses like have been seen in other large fires.

    The Town of Vail Feels strongly that this proposed project is in alignment with the goals and objectives as identified within the CWPP. While fire plays an important natural role in the ecosystem it also presents the largest single threat to the safety and vitality of the community. If we are to achieve our collective goal as described in the CWPP of “decreasing the probability of landscape scale high severity wildfire events” we must implement projects such as you have proposed as rapidly as possible.

    The Town would like to thank you for the time you have taken to fully analyze this project. If you have any questions regarding these comments please direct them to:

    Paul Cada
    Vail Fire and Emergency Services
    Wildfire Program Manager
    970.477.3475
    pcada@vailgov.com

    Regards,

    Kim Langmaid
    Mayor-Town of Vail

  • Forest Service Seeks Comment on Fuel Reduction Plan Adjacent to Vail

    supporting image

    The White River National Forest seeks public comment on its proposal to reduce hazardous fuels for wildfires on more than 3,000 acres adjacent to the Town of Vail.

    The Booth Creek Fuels Reduction Project would use a combination of prescribed fire, mechanical treatments and hand treatments to reduce the fuel loads on National Forest System lands primarily north of Interstate 70.

    The project is part of a coordinated effort with Vail Fire & Emergency Services to reduce fire risk and improve firefighter safety within the Town of Vail wildland urban interface. It would implement treatments in areas of concern identified in the 2020 Vail Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

    “The fuel loads in this area have built up for more than century due to lack of wildfire combined with dead and downed trees from insects and disease,” said Eagle-Holy Cross District Ranger Leanne Veldhuis. “The fuel reduction work we are proposing would help reduce the risk of wildfire to the Town of Vail and give firefighters space to more effectively engage a future wildfire.”

    To be effective at reducing fuel loads adjacent to the Town of Vail, the project area includes the Eagles Nest Wilderness and three Colorado Roadless Areas. No temporary or permanent access roads would be constructed throughout the project area. The use of motorized vehicles would be avoided as much as possible within designated wilderness, although aerial ignition by helicopter or unmanned aircraft may be used in some circumstances such as rugged terrain, where it would be more effective and reduce risk to firefighters.

    The Forest Service is hosting a public meeting to provide additional information and answer questions from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 6 at the Grand View on the third level of the Vail Welcome Center in Lionshead. More information, including maps and how to comment, is available at fs.usda.gov/project/?project=61657. Comments need to be received by May 3.

  • Forest Service News Release March 4

Page last updated: 05 May 2023, 02:01 PM