Last July, a strong windstorm damaged about 137,000 acres of Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest trees in Langlade and Oconto counties. There were thousands of other acres of damage outside the national forest as well.
About 61,000 acres are located within areas where homes are built near or among lands prone to wild land fire. Officials say about 6,700 structures within the areas are at risk of wildfire due to increased downed trees.
Forest spokesperson Hilary Markin talks about the work being done...
"We're putting in 200 foot wide buffers in places along what we call the wild and urban interface. They will be putting in a fire line that if something should happen we can stop it quickly..."
She says they've identified criteria for removing the blown down trees...
"One was the proximity and number of structures in relation to the heaviest hit blow down areas, two, areas in pine stands, and three, the extent of the blow down within the area wee the three criteria we used to base those priority fuel treatment areas...."
221 acres are under contract to construct 200-foot-wide buffers in the affected area. Markin says there are plans to treat an additional 165 high-priority acres this summer and more acres in the future. She says there's also timber salvage operations across the blow down area on federal, state, county and private lands which are reducing the risk of wildfire. More information is on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest website.
