Aiming for fire-safe forests

So far, 2015 is shaping up to be hotter and drier than most years in Northwest Montana, which has forest managers particularly concerned with the potential for wildfires.

A dry two months (Flathead Valley precipitation in April and May was 2.5 inches below normal) could set the stage for fires, depending on whether June continues that trend.

“Fuel indicators are showing that we are drier than normal at this time of the year,” said Rich Moore, a state forester. “[But] when you look at this corner of Montana, you never do anything until you see  what happens in the month of June, because that is usually our wettest month.”

That said, the potential for a serious fire season often makes landowners in forested areas consider how to protect their homes.

Ali Ulwelling, a fire prevention specialist for the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, said landowners have a variety of tools at their disposal to keep the worst of the summer fires from affecting their properties and houses.

“Folks tend to think you need to clearcut, but that’s not the case,” she said. “If you just thin the property, vegetation changes with that opening-up, and you see more wildlife and diversity, shrub layers coming up that create habitat for birds.”

Thinning, opposed to clearcutting, also creates “shaded fuel breaks,” in which a more open forest provides enough shade to keep moisture levels higher than an open clearing would provide.

Ulwelling works closely with Bill Swope, a former U.S. Forest Service firefighter and the lead forester with the Flathead Economic Policy Center. Along with state officials, he visits landowners all around the valley, providing free expertise and consultations on how to most effectively manage forest health, cut down on the likelihood of a fire hitting structures and avoid unnecessary costs to firefighting resources.

“Firefighters shouldn’t be fighting with their backs to the wall just to save a structure,” Swope said. “The ultimate goal is a landscape-level fuel break.”

However, it isn’t always easy to convince landowners to pick up the tab for major fire-prevention projects — which can run up to $2,500 per acre — so his organization hooks them up with matching grants and other funding assistance to cut down on the costs. Plus, lumber and pulp wood sold to timber companies after thinning activities can help offset the cost of treatment.

Those payments can go a long way, but so does the threat of the alternative.

“Smoke in the air is probably the most persuasive tool for us,” Swope said wryly.

Architect Bill Neudorfer flew into town last week from his permanent home in the D.C. area, planning his future hillside house overlooking Somers and Flathead Lake. His 28-acre property was heavily wooded when he purchased it, and over the past two years he has worked with Ulwelling, Swope and Moore to treat about half of it.

Moore pointed to areas where work has already been done, such as plantings of larch and ponderosa pines, two naturally fire- and disease-resistant species. Ulwelling added another benefit to thinning trees on private property: an uptick in biodiversity. Wildflowers such as lupine and buttercups begin popping up and bushes welcome a broader spectrum of birds for wildlife viewing.

The rugged allure of Montana’s wild forests has fueled development throughout Northwest Montana in recent decades. However, those thick woodlands, historically kept healthy by periodic wildfires, can sometimes be problematic for the new human inhabitants.

“The fire-wise picture looks like a cherry orchard,” noted Swope. “And a lot of landowners don’t want the cherry orchard, they don’t want to be able to see all the way to the end of the property.”

As one compromise, prevention specialists have worked with landowners to develop “clumping,” where stands of trees — a quarter-acre or so — are left to grow into thick, more aesthetically appealing groves with thinner buffers around them to mitigate their higher fire potential.

“Defensible space” refers to the amount of thinning around a structure that allows a firefighting crew to effectively defend it from encroaching flames. However, Ulwelling would like to take it a step further.

“We’re trying to think in terms of ‘survivable space,’ where you’ve done enough work for the house to make it through a fire without anyone being there.”

That includes a minimum 10-foot buffer between the structure and surrounding trees. And because fire spreads upward, the minimum buffer around structures increases along with the slope of the land.

Still, there’s a lot of room left for improvement in how forests are managed for fire in this area. Swope points to a densely wooded hill situated by the lake across U.S. 93. Mansions and high-priced cabins are scattered throughout the conifer forest, some easily visible and surrounded by open yards, and others just barely poking out of the dense green canopy.

“This is the complexity in the Flathead Valley,” he says, adding that responders to a fire on the hill may not know whether additional structures are nestled out of view or if there is only one access road leading in and out.

“The cost, 20 years ago, to firefight on that hill was pretty minimal, but now when a firefighter rolls on the scene, he’s looking at a very different situation,” said Swope. “This is going to continue to be a problem in the valley.”

•  For free advice and consultations for private forest management, or to learn more about available grants and funding options, property owners can contact Ulwelling at 751-2270 or the Flathead Economic Policy Center at 892-8155.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.