Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
If you live in the Miller Creek and Lytle Creek area and would like to protect your land and home from the potential impacts of a wildfire, the Crook County Natural Resource District (CCNRD) is able to offer you a helping hand.
CCNRD is looking to partner with landowners on hazardous fuels reduction projects and is offering the benefits of both its expertise and up to 80% funding assistance.
Hazardous fuel reduction projects are a way to be proactive with your forested property, creating fire breaks and thinning trees to better protect your land from wildfire.
CCNRD has submitted a proposal to work alongside the U.S. Forest Service Bearlodge Ranger District to implement such projects on the west side of the Bear Lodge Mountains, working closely with Wyoming State Forestry to educate landowners about the projects and implement treatments.
Landowners who choose to participate in the program will have assistance from CCNRD to find the right person to complete the work.
“Our contracts are with the landowners. We work closely with them to help find a good contractor who fits their needs for conservation treatments specific to their property,” says Sarah Anderson, Program Coordinator for CCNRD.
“We encourage landowners to get a minimum of three bids. Ultimately, it is the landowner’s decision and we want them to feel comfortable with the contractor they choose.”
As with most forestry-related projects through CCNRD, around 75 to 80% financial assistance is available.
“We want landowners to have ‘skin in the game’ too. It is their property, not ours,” explains Anderson. “We are just trying to help be good stewards of the land.”
Treatments used to mitigate fire danger include fuel breaks, defensible spaces and fuel treatments.
“Fuel treatment projects greatly reduce fire danger by thinning trees so crown branch tips do not touch. A fuel break is a strip of land along roads, property perimeter or other areas to break up the tree canopy to slow or stop a crown fire,” says Anderson.
“Defensible space is the area between a house and an oncoming wildfire, where vegetation has been modified to reduce the wildfire threat and to provide an opportunity for firefighters to effectively defend the house. A good defensible space can be created by the elimination of many of the trees, brush, ladder fuels and dead woody material.”
CCNRD, also known as a Conservation District, provides for the conservation of natural resources throughout Crook County. CCNRD helps with the protection of public lands, the protection of our tax-base, the preservation of natural resources and the promotion of the health, safety and general welfare of the people of Crook County.
Hazardous fuel reduction projects through CCNRD are dependent on the agency being able to secure grants, so Anderson urges interested landowners to get in touch while the funding is available.
“We have to write proposals to go after competitive grant funding. We are not always funded, so it makes consistency really challenging,” she says.
“90% of conservation districts in Wyoming have mill levy funding, but we are not one of them, so we try our best to help with mitigation efforts, but are not always successful in securing funding.”
Funding for this project is specific to landowners who live in the area of Miller Creek and Lytle Creek. If you are interested in more information, please contact Sarah Anderson at [email protected] or fill out a hazardous fuels reduction project application at www.ccnrd.org.
