Tom McMackin
Special Note Regarding Evergreen Trees:
No new pruning or removal work – Now until the 2023 Fall’s first frost! Here’s why: New springtime damage can attract the Ips Beetle(s) to your trees and the wider surrounding area and begin an infestation cycle that will spread rapidly, potentially killing your pines and destroying your lovely White Oak/Evergreen Savannah vistas.
The shortened version of the Ips life cycle story: A pine tree suffers a late Winter/early Spring injury – the wind breaks a branch [aka pruning] or something scrapes the trunk and tears a bit of bark, inviting invasion by exposing the inner cambium layer. This intact, soft, water/nutrient-wicking, interior ‘skin’, if you will, covers the entire woody stem of the tree under its protective bark = Happy Tree! A Fall storm or pruning injury, on the other hand, has time for a long healing process to seal the injury, protecting its inner layers.
Adult Ips beetles are designed to burrow into a tree’s outer [protective] bark to reach this yummy cambium layer. Healthy trees generate pitch from inside that will flow into the boring channel, stopping or gluing the ‘boring’ bug in place! A few may survive, but it’s really ‘Game Over!’
Drought-stressed/freshly injured trees can’t do that, so the beetles have easy access. With a Spring injury, the newly hatching young adult Ips beetle crowds are attracted by what seems to them the scent of a fresh, easy propagation ‘Happy Hour’ cocktail. Avoiding a lot of boring effort, they easily deposit fertilized eggs in the open injuries. When the larvae hatch, they burrow happily along within the rich cambium layer until they burrow out to pupate/hibernate and await the repeating Spring ‘Happy Hour’ cycle! The larval worm(s) can munch along, consuming complete bands of cambium around the stem [girdling], preventing water/ nutrients from flowing beyond the injury and killing the tree.
Firewise:
Don’t forget, the 2023 Wildland fire season begins NOW!
First order of business – Following up on your checked off Fall ‘FireWise To Do list’ ~
Begin disposal of your Fall 2022 collected property clean-up material and slash. Gather it into a location or locations that are readily accessible and safe for you to easily prepare the debris for chipping or burning, as you choose.
WA DNR burn pile guidelines specify that only ‘natural’ (grass, weed, brush, or tree) sourced debris are legal. A burn permit is not required for KCFPD #14 at this time; however, adding trash to a burn pile or using a burn barrel for disposal are illegal and may result in citations and fines.
https://www.dnr.wa.gov/publications/rp_burn_outdoors_northeast_english.pdf
Next, follow the list of sequential tasks, using the FireWise concept and principles, in conjunction with your disposal preparations to create a ‘defensible space’ zone to deter wildfire impact on your property and provide conditions for fire service teams to be able to safely protect lives and property.
Looking ahead to Spring & early Summer:
Survey your FIreWise buffer zones and take action.
1) [0-5’] Inspect your home and other structures from the top down / from foundation out 5 feet…
• Observe where things like leaves, small twigs, pine needles & cones, etc. accumulated for removal now
• Is there anything combustible on or near by that might hold an ember or lead fire to your house ?
• Clean-up & Clear up these zones (Now!)
2) [5’-30’] From your buildings’ foundations out into your surrounding spaces
[30’ is a minimum buffer area between structures or other fuel sources for defensive firefighting & protection]
• Create a plan for making this zone ‘protective’ for your property and a working zone for any firefighters who are assigned to protect your home and other homes near your property.
• Is there an accessible ‘fire lane’ around your structures for them to work ?
• Execute your plan. Complete it well before High Prairie’s burn ban goes into effect!
3) [30’-100’] From the close-in FireWise buffers above – plan for work in your wild rural environments.
• Clean up & Clear up these zones as you can, working from the center outward!
Resources:
Contact me, Tom McMackin, if you’d like more information on the ‘FireWise’ and ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ programs; if you have comments or suggestions; or if you would like to be more involved with the High Prairie FireWise effort. I can answer questions and get you connected with the resources we have available as a recognized FireWise Community. Contact me by email at firewise.onhighprairie@gmail. com or by phone message by calling 509-365-2786. Please, if you don’t receive a response from your email call me!
Online resources:
FireWise –
http://www.firewise.org or http://www.firewise.org/wildfire-preparedness/be-firewise/home-and-landscape.aspx
Ready, Set, Go! –
http://www.wildlandfirersg.org or http://www.wildlandfirersg.org/Resident
Preparedness & Evacuation –
https://www.nevadacountyca.gov/DocumentCenter/ View/15855/Nevada-Couny-Evacuation-Guide—2015-PDF