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Thursday, September 11, 2003

More Tree Thinning in Area Funded

By Geri Ostrow
Mountain View Telegraph
    The East Mountain Forest Health Program will receive another $365,000 in grant funding, said Susan Rich of the Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District.
    The money will allow the program to move forward with its tree thinning project in the East Mountains, in which 240 residents have already participated.
    Rich said 160 more people from La Madera to Torreon are on a waiting list, and 15 to 20 of those properties have already been evaluated. Work will begin as soon as the bark beetles hibernate for the winter.
    "The beetles' last flight should be in late September to early October," Rich said.
    "We'll begin when we know for sure the beetles are hibernating."
    The $365,000 comes from the 2003 Western States Urban Wildland Urban Interface Grant program through the U.S. Forest Service and State Forestry Division. The federal money pays for up to 70 percent of the thinning work. The landowner must provide a 30 percent match.
    Ciudad manages the program in cooperation with the U.S. Forest Service and State Forestry.
    Landowners complete an application and submit it to Ciudad, which works with the landowners to develop a plan for treating the particular property. Treatments may include creating defensible space, general tree thinning or building a fuel break for large tracts of land such as around a subdivision's perimeter.
    Ciudad hires qualified contractors to perform the work.
    Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Albuquerque, spearheaded the East Mountain Forest Health Program in 2000, in response to the East Mountains' ongoing threat of wildfire. Before this most recent grant, the project since 2001 has received more than $342,000 from the Western States Wildland Urban Interface Grant program.
    For more information, call Rich at 761-5446.