The U.S. Forest Service and Apache County, Ariz., have launched a first-of-its-kind management plan to thin more than 90,000 acres of forest in hopes of preventing catastrophic fires like last year’s record Wallow Fire.
The partnership grew out of county accusations last year that decades of forest mismanagement by the Forest Service aggravated the Wallow Fire, the largest in the state’s history. Since then, the two sides have come together and developed a program for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest that they hope can be repeated around the country.
“We’re working very well with the Forest Service,” said Apache County Manager Delwin Wengert. “It’s a win-win for everyone – it helps the county, it helps the Forest Service, it helps the residents and it’s a model for future projects.”
Work began May 23 with a crew of 18 workers – professionals, recent high school graduates and college students – who are cutting down trees with less than 9-inch diameters in the Greer area. After an area is cut, the cleared materials will be burned by the Forest Service, with the county providing some equipment and support staff.
From The New Haven Register: https://nhregister.com/articles/2012/06/17/news/doc4fddd319bdabf669427047.txt?viewmode=fullstory