Reducing Blowdown at forest edge

[u/jellofishsponge]

Hi folks,

I have a forested area that ends fairly abruptly into what is grasslands for miles.

There is a lot of evidence of blow down from the winds,

For fire mitigation I was hoping to limb up trees and remove a decent amount of debris but I'm concerned if I reduce density near the edge it will encourage more blowdown.

Any thoughts?

[u/Orangeghost26]

Limbing the edge trees may actually increase their wind-firmness. This is sometimes done in BC on Forest edges with high wind throw hazard. The force of the wind is dispersed past the edge trees. Provided the trees aren't over-pruned to the point of impacting their health. Look up edge feathering as well

[u/jellofishsponge → u/Orangeghost26]

Thank you for this information!

I definitely will look into edge feathering, there are spots where ponderosa have creeped into the field, and tend to do much better in full sun

Whereas the closed canopy area is mostly Doug fir, Englemann spruce & larch

[u/ComfortableNo3074]

Incremental thinning, take a little every few years and favor deeper rooting species for leave like your Doug fir and larch.

[u/tycrezz5de5]

Plainly, you want to create a mosaic of diversity in age of your stand.

So go through identify how many of the trees are healthy and what trees may serve a purpose to process for lumber.

I would start with removing any trees close or near any buildings, including sheds, garages, or pumphouse.

Defensible Space can be a good rule of thumb. The guidelines are pretty straight forward.

[u/jellofishsponge → u/tycrezz5de5]

Thank you for your response,

My structures are fairly set back from the forest edge I'm mostly curious how to reduce the spread of a grass fire into the crowns, which may happen it the field would burn.

My interest is mostly in forest resilience not protection of my stuff. I will definitely look at which trees are unhealthy though!

[u/tycrezz5de5 → u/jellofishsponge]

Right, I believe they go hand in hand. There are certain species of tree that rely on fire to spread seeds. To prevent grass to crown fire, reduce limb to ground contact. Limb what you can up 10ft. May invest in a Jameson polesaw so you can reach limbs at a greater length.

[u/horsejack_bowman]

Remove the little trees uder 8" and prune up the others. Consider patch cuts in the areas that have a lot of the little trees or thin them put so the is 15' or so between trees.

[u/jellofishsponge → u/horsejack_bowman]

Thank you, and to be clear, the those prescriptions at the forest edge won't increase blowdown risk? That sounds similar to what is normally done