Developing Story

Forest fuels once burned by fire now removed by hand

Updated at: 09:04 am

For nearly a century, the region’s forest managers worked under the theory that fire is an enemy.

That led to improved fire suppression techniques and fewer fires, but it also left many of the forests throughout the Pacific Northwest with dense undergrowth and at high risk of intense fires.

This past weekend, Washington State University landscape ecology and silviculture professor Mark Swanson and members of the WSU Forestry Club began the job of clearing that undergrowth and reducing the overall density of vegetation from 2 acres of privately owned forestland north of Potlatch. Nearly every tree under seven inches in diameter was removed and will be sold for firewood.

For the full story, see Monday's Moscow-Pullman Daily News or DNews.com.

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