Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

This author went out with Gila National Forest Fire Prevention and Education Specialist Larry D. Smith and Fuels Planner Daniel London to visit the area where fuels treatment work is happening on the forest to break up the horizontal and vertical continuity of vegetation for protection against potential wildfire.

London cautioned that people recreating around the Cleveland Mine area should be careful if they hear machinery. They should stay far away from the machines if they are running, because "they are dangerous even when not chopping, and the machines can throw stuff."

He explained the specific treatment is a joint-chiefs project, with collaboration among the Gila National Forest (GNF), the state of New Mexico and the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). "We put in a proposal and received three years of funding. The priorities include 1) vegetation condition in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) and priority watersheds, 2) vegetation condition in high value wildlife habitats containing Mexican spotted owl, and 3) areas of degraded watershed and riparian condition. This specific fuels treatment focuses on the first priority, the WUI."

The undergrowth, shrubs, and smaller trees at the first stop had been masticated, Smith explained. "The masticator is basically a tractor with a mulching head on it and it leaves smaller chips. The reason we picked this spot is because it gets winds from the southwest, which is often the direction pushing fires in our area. This first area is getting underway, and the purpose is to break up and separate the vertical and horizontal continuity of the vegetation, so a ground fire won't shoot to the crowns of trees."

The sound of the masticating machine could be heard in the distance but was not visible.

London said the area being pre-treated is about 350 acres. "We masticate only on the lower slopes. On steep slopes we have to treat them manually by thinning. In this project we are not treating steep slopes."

"We left or are leaving the mature Ponderosa pine trees and some of the more desirable mature trees of other species in all areas," he continued.

Smith said the oaks and juniper when they are cut tend to come right back up and are brushy. "We are treating them with the knowledge that we will have to treat again. A lot of the oak came up high and are way thicker than they were."

He said the treatment will help restore the watershed because of the thousands of gallons of water a year that mature juniper trees consume.

The next stop was near the Little Continental Divide Trail head.

Smith talked about piles, which is a term used by the forest when news releases go out about "pile burning."

He noted that the term refers to the fuel treatment, generally referring to hand thinning, using loppers and chain saws to lop and scatter. "When it is breaking the horizontal and vertical continuity, it leaves a ground fuel base. Piling is the consolidation of the cut material into piles to burn."

London said the fuels on the ground have to be decomposed in some manner. Because in this drier climate they do not compose as quickly as in more humid areas, "we must employ methods such as pile burning to remove the left-over material. We employ a variety of treatments when appropriate, given slope, aspect, fuel type and associated values in the area."

One of the reasons the Forest Service does not masticate on steep slopes is not only safety, but to prevent soil erosion. "When we release the contracts, we take into account their equipment. Bigger is not better."

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