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ALARM BOX Alarm Box: Helicopter thinning to return to Ashland watershed Cut trees will be airlifted to where they can be loaded onto trucks Comment By Chris Chambers Ashland Fire & Rescue DailyTidings.com By Chris Chambers Ashland Fire & Rescue Posted Dec. 1, 2015 at 5:34 PM By Chris Chambers Ashland Fire & Rescue Posted Dec. 1, 2015 at 5:34 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Winter and the holidays increase indoor fire risks • FireMed membership a small price to pay • Alarm Box: Why emergency responders use lights and sirens » Social News On the heels of another fire season that burned down homes, killed people, and marred watersheds and air quality along the West Coast, the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project partners are continuing local efforts to prepare for wildfire. The ongoing AFR effort mitigates wildfire threats and restores health and sustainability to our watershed and surrounding forests. With more than three times as many trees on today’s landscape as in the early 1900s, our largest trees are under significant stress and dying at rates well above historic levels. And the threat of a severe fire looms each summer — a threat to our water quality, community safety and tourism-based economy. Conceived in 2004 through collaborative community input, AFR has been actively implemented since 2010 as a partnership between the Rogue-River Siskiyou National Forest, Lomakatsi Restoration Project, The Nature Conservancy and the city of Ashland. Helicopter thinning, used in 2012 and 2013, will be re-initiated in the coming weeks. While designed to improve the long-term health of our community and watershed, the helicopter work will impact trails and recreation in the short term. Starting Dec. 8, roads and trails going to Lamb Saddle will be closed until at least Christmas while crews cut competing trees from overly dense forests and the helicopter air-lifts them to landings, an expensive tool necessary to avoid soil damage to steep slopes. The value from by-product logs sold from our restoration is directly folded back into AFR to accomplish more work. The helicopter fueling and maintenance base will be located above the swim reservoir at the end of Granite Street so noise should be expected in areas close by, though this helicopter has a quieter operating noise than models used more recently. Work will start no earlier than 7 a.m., in accordance with the city’s noise ordinance. Log truck traffic will initially be on Tolman Creek Road for the first phase of this work, but will shift to Granite Street later in the winter or spring. Closures on Forest Service Road 2080 (an extension of Tolman Creek Road) will be needed as work progresses after the holidays. Please respect all closed areas due to the very serious safety issues posed by this operation. Thank you for your ongoing patience with this critical project. We realize that the project impacts the quiet of town, and opportunities to get out and enjoy our forests, and we appreciate the community’s ongoing tolerance so that the work can continue. All trails and roads on the west side of the watershed (Granite Street access) will be open until further notice. For updates to AFR work and impacts to trails and roads, please see ashlandwatershed.org or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AFR.Project. For more information on how to prepare your home and neighborhood for wildfire, please join our efforts at www.ashlandfirewise.org . As division chief for forestry for Ashland Fire & Rescue, Chris Chambers oversees the Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project. The Alarm Box, a column with local public safety information written by Ashland Fire & Rescue personnel, appears triweekly in the Tidings. Email topic suggestions to [email protected] . By Chris Chambers Ashland Fire & Rescue DailyTidings.com By Chris Chambers Ashland Fire & Rescue Posted Dec. 1, 2015 at 5:34 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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