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Happy Valley Risk Reduction Project
Prevention goals are to have zero losses in life, injury, property, and resources; prevent human-caused fires; reduce suppression costs and to increase awareness. We can reach these goals by using the 3 E's (education, engineering, and enforcement).
The Happy Valley Fuels Mitigation Project is a result of the fire season of 1994. On August 14, 1994 the lighting caused Little Wolf Fire was reported west of the Happy Valley site. When fire fighters arrived on the scene the fire was already at 10 acres. The Little Wolf fire was contained two weeks later on the second of September and grew to cover 4,838 acres.
The fuel driven fire rushed toward homes in the Star Meadows area. Fire officials along with local law enforcement and Office of Emergency Services developed an evacuation plan for the residents in the fire's path. The order to evacuate was nearly necessary before the fire fighters were able to stop the fire's progress at the edge of Star Meadows.
As a result of the Little Wolf fire, and others during the 1994 season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) developed a Wildfire Mitigation Plan covering areas in Flathead and Lincoln Counties.
Looking for an answer to the growing challenge of wildfires in urban settings the DNRC applied for money to treat fuels on state land adjacent to an "at risk" subdivision. It was a new concept - to put money on the ground to reduce the fuel hazard in hazardous areas. Until now our approach had always been traditional information and education - not much action. The Happy Valley Project gave us an opportunity to practice what we preach as well as provide a visual display of the available treatments
Getting Started
The 30 acres chosen for this project were divided into 6 sections, each covering roughly 5 acres. Commercial thinning on 5 sections began in the late winter of 2000 and was completed in the summer of the same year. The sixth section was not a commercial thinning, rather hand crews removed all the brush and trees under 4” in diameter, before eliminating the lower limbs on the remaining trees.
Non-commercial Hand Thinning
In the northeast section of the Happy Valley Project hand crews used chainsaws and hand tools to remove all four-inch and smaller trees. Workers also trimmed the lower branches on trees and eliminated much of the brush to remove ladder fuels from this section. The material was then hand piled for burning.
Members of the Montana Conservation Corp performed most of the handwork in this area. The 32 man-hours they performed made up nearly all the labor invested in this section. Except for the price of labor the total cost of clean up in this area is very minimal.
This hand thinning and piling is one of the least expensive treatments employed in the Happy Valley project. This method is effective both esthetically and in removing much of the dangerous fuel load, however it did not address opening the tree canopy or reducing competition among the timber in the area.
Dozer Piling
After the commercial and hand thinning was completed in this 6-acre section a dozer with a brush rake was used to pile the slash and other debris into 25 piles. A dozer and operator completed the piling operations on this five-acre section in 16 hours.
After the piles were allowed to cure they were ignited and burned, returning nutrients to the soil while removing dangerous fuel concentrations. Burning piles can be done in a safe manner when done under the proper conditions.
The use of proper equipment, such as the brush rake reduces damage to the soil. While use of the machinery made the clean up quick and easy it is generally more expensive than hand piling.
Machine Chipping
When commercial thinning operations were completed in this section a mechanical chipper was used to treat the slash and other left over material.
While more expensive than most other treatments, chipping is a non-burning treatment that removes the fire hazard allowing for nutrient recycling and allows for quicker treatment, since it is not dependent on drying time and weather conditions like the burning treatments are.
Chipping the slash also allows the nutrients to break down and return to the soil more quickly than other treatments that do not use fire. In addition to eliminating any chance of fire escaping chipping does not emit smoke into the local airshed.
Hand Piling
Following the commercial thinning operation the remaining woody material in this unit was hand piled and burned.
While hand piling does not require machinery it is slower and labor intensive. Except for the price of labor the total cost of clean up in this area is very minimal.
Hand piling can result in a more thorough clean up of slash and other material than typical machine piling methods. Hand piling is also less damaging to the surface vegetation and results in no soil displacement.
Private and commercial firewood cutters removed a great deal of the 3" and larger timber that was left behind after the commercial thinning operations. The firewood cutters did not pick material that had been piled for burning.
The commercial firewood cutter paid $250.00 for the wood that was left in this unit.
Jackpot Burn
A jackpot burn was used in this unit to clean up the logging slash and reduce
fire hazard. Slash and other material was left on the ground where it fell.
The following spring a crew came into the area and burned the larger concentrations
allowing the fire to work its way through the unit.
Burning was more complete in the areas with higher concentrations of downed woody material resulting in an uneven level of removal.
This treatment is generally how nature cleans up the forest floor. While this method can be inexpensive a good deal of work goes into preparing the site to keep the fire from escaping the site boundaries or killing the remaining trees. A successful burn is dependent on the proper weather and fuel moisture conditions. Unlike non-burning methods the exact completion date is hard to plan.
Machine Trampling
This site was whole tree skidded and machine trampled. Slash and other material
was left on the ground where it fell then a bulldozer drove over the area
crushing the material.
Trampling is a non-burning treatment used to break up the material so it rots and returns nutrients to the soil more quickly. Trampling also makes the left over material less likely to carry fire, reducing the risk to the neighboring forest and homes.
Trees were felled and skidded, full length, to a landing on the west end of the unit. All 4" and smaller trees were cut and left on the ground where they fell. This material, as well as limbs that broke off during the skidding, was then trampled by a bulldozer.
