Natural Resource Highlights

Published: 2019
By Domo Woodham

2019 was a big year for the MSU Extension Gallatin County Natural Resources Program. Over 53 landowners scattered between Gallatin and Park Counties engaged in MSU Extension’s Wildfire Risk Reduction Cost-Share Reimbursement program. Landowners voluntarily signed up for the program and committed to reducing their wildfire risk through vegetation management completed either by themselves or with a contractor, and continuing to manage their vegetation in years to come. Most property owners focused their efforts within the area 30’ feet from structures (the Home Ignition Zone) and within 30’ of ingress/egress routes to properties. A few chose to engage in more “landscape scale” fuels reduction projects that spanned across entire properties. General parameters followed by property owners were: removing ladder fuels and limbing remaining trees to 1/3rd the tree height, and thinning trees to a spacing of 10’-15’ between individual tree crowns, or leaving small bunches of trees and maintaining a 20’ spacing between bunches. This would help to keep fire activity on the ground rather than in tree canopies, and would help to break up continuous fuel sources. The benefits of this program were many. Properties are now more defensible and accessible for responding fire crews and are able to survive a wildfire with limited damage. Benefits included forest and rangeland improvement, enhanced wildlife habitat, and improved aesthetics for property owners. Some landowners were initially caught off guard by how “open” their property became, they soon found their properties better prepared for wildfire and more accessible. In total, landowners will have completed over 230+ acres of wildfire risk reduction work on private property by the conclusion of 2019. This MSU Extension Program was funded through three grants from the USDA Forest Service which were then sub awarded to the Montana Department of Natural Resources, Gallatin County and then MSU Extension.