Area identified as potential problem area for wildfire in the urban interface

When asked this week about any specific areas of concern as it pertains to the threat of wildfire, Pikes Peak District Ranger Oscar Martinez tabbed the Upper Monument Creek landscape.

“We are just beginning a modelling project to take that landscape and look at how to fragment the way that fire moves there. Our intention is to manage the landscape so that we might be able to design treatments to put speed bumps in place should a major wildfire occur.”

Carin Vadala, NEPA Planner for the Forest Service is the lead for the Upper Monument Creek Project, and says things are just beginning.

“The Front Range Roundtable identified this area as a high priority treatment area to reduce the risk of large severe fires and to increase the function of the watersheds. They have worked to garner funding through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project which will help fund the work done on the forest. The estimated costs are approximately $ 10 million over a ten-year period or about $ 1 million a year to implement. The main objective is to create a forest structure that is varied across the landscape and is also resilient to disturbances. The timeline is not completely set because the district is currently working on the Environmental Impact Statement which will be released to the public for review later this year. Once the EIS is finalized it is anticipated that projects will continue for about 10 years,” Vadala said.

According to a description in Forest Service reports, “The landscape is highly urbanized with the Colorado Springs metropolitan area dominating on the southeast border and the community of Woodland Park on the southwest. Two smaller communities, Monument and Palmer Lake, border the landscape to the northeast. The U.S. Air Force Academy is a significant presence on the landscape’s eastern boundary. The USAFA also maintains the private 655-acre Farish Recreation Area as an inholding within the landscape itself. The northern portion of the UMC landscape includes approximately one-quarter (4,407 acres) of the U.S. Forest Service’s Manitou Experimental Forest and 3,409 acres of designated Colorado Roadless Area. The 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire burned across 11,000 acres at the landscape’s southern tip.

“The UMC Initiative builds on the work of the Front Range Roundtable, which has been working together since 2004 to dramatically increase forest management that reduces wildfire risks to communities and restores resilient ecological conditions in Front Range forests. The 67,000-acre UMC landscape is located within an area designated as a high priority for management by the Roundtable. Treatment within the landscape will be implemented under the auspices of the Front Range Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project and Long Term Stewardship Contract, both of which are Roundtable priorities, according to and executive summary of the initial report.

“The UMC Collaborative used a series of workshops and field visits to identify effective strategies for restoring desired conditions to the UMC landscape. Using both spatial and non-spatial analyses, the Collaborative found that: three major forest types comprise 85% of the landscape; forests in older age classes are significantly underrepresented; and forest conditions are considerably more dense than they would have been historically, particularly in the drier ponderosa pine and mixed conifer systems. Analyses also revealed that these closed forest conditions place people, water and wildlife at significant risk from unnaturally large and damaging wildfires,” the report said.

Based on these analyses, it recommends over the next seven to 10 years, the USFS use a combination of mechanical, manual and prescribed fire treatments to manage conditions on approximately 18,000 acres within the UMC landscape.

“First, treatments must be designed and implemented at a meaningful scale, ensuring that they are able to effect a landscape-scale change in conditions and processes. Second, treatments should be strategically scheduled and located so that they maximize benefits to both people and nature. Finally, treatments must be carefully designed, using the best available science for individual forest systems and ensuring that the purpose of treatments is clear,” the report said.

Those interested in the project can visit fs.usda.gov.