Sometime next month, private timber-harvesting crews will conduct a forest-thinning project on Sawtooth National Forest lands immediately adjacent to the Warm Springs Golf Course west of Ketchum.
The aim of the project is to reduce the risk of wildfire on the densely forested north-facing hillside that abuts the south side of the golf course. The hillside is the prominent landmark one views as while driving along lower Warm Springs Road between the Big Wood River and Skiway Drive.
The hillside is primarily forested with Douglas fir.
The fuels reduction project is the result of a recent timber sale awarded by the Sawtooth National Forest's Ketchum Ranger District. The 16-acre sale is the second of its kind as part of the Sawtooth National Forest's continuing Warm Springs Fuel Reduction Project.
The project is designed as a community wildfire protection measure for the city of Ketchum and the Sun Valley Resort. The timber sale will remove approximately 4,800 cubic feet, or roughly eight log trucks, of Douglas fir trees. The project is estimated to begin Oct. 1, and will be completed prior to Nov. 30.
Ketchum District Ranger Kurt Nelson said Monday that the timber cutting will only extend about 500 feet into the forest away from the golf course. He said crews have already marked trees meant for cutting with blue spray paint.
Nelson said the timber cutters will cut about one out of every five to seven large Douglas fir trees in the 16-acre sale area.
"It's a fairly small percentage," he said.
Nelson said the removal of the trees will open up the upper forest crown to reduce the risk for a catastrophic crown fire.
Federal foresters considered the avalanche potential in the area when they drew up their plans for the timber sale, a press release from the Sawtooth National Forest states.
Nelson said the Warm Springs timber sale will produce numerous slash piles, which will be allowed to dry for one season. He said the piles will likely be burned next fall when fire season has ended and the potential for fire to escape has been eliminated.
Nelson said that sometime next year, timber crews will return to the project site to reduce the number of trees smaller than eight inches in diameter. He said those trees are called ladder fuels, and can help a ground fire enter the upper forest crown.
In August 2006, another Forest Service timber sale in the fuel reduction project was implemented adjacent to private lands along the south boundary of lower Board Ranch. That sale included roughly 6,000 cubic feet of timber cut over a 14-acre area.
Nelson said the thinned forest was the site of a backburning operation during the recent Castle Rock Fire. He said adjacent landowners were happy with the results of the intentionally ignited burn, which left a significant number of live green trees.
"It was just a cooler fire," Nelson said.
The Warm Springs Fuel Reduction Project was initially planned by the Sawtooth National Forest in 2005. However numerous land ownership changes have taken place with the Warm Springs Ranch Golf Course.
The existing owner, Helios LLC, a company based in Santa Barbara, Calif., has given the Forest Service permission to cross its land to complete the community fire protection project. Helios is not responsible for the project, its design or its outcome, the forest service press release stated.
