Fire fuel mitigation project sees removal of small trees in over 250 acres of Dishman Hills

Crews hired by the state Department of Natural Resources have been working since October to remove trees from over 250 acres of the county-owned Dishman Hills Natural Area to reduce wildfire risk. Similar work is being done at Bear Lake County Park.

Nearly a century of wildfire suppression has led to unnaturally dense forests prone to more severe wildfires. In ongoing efforts to reduce the human health and safety risks, DNR, the Spokane County Parks Department and the new Spokane County Wildfire Mitigation Coalition have joined forces to remove the young trees that act as fuel in high-risk areas.

“The amount of fuels work happening today is the most acres achieved probably ever,” said Nick Jeffries, chair of the mitigation coalition created earlier this year.

Dishman Hills and Bear Lake are the latest mitigation projects, selected following an analysis of maps to determine areas of highest community and infrastructure risk, said Daniel Maus, resource specialist for Spokane County Parks.

“Both of those are in areas of high fire danger,” Maus said. “This past year, there’s around six different fires that occurred – all human caused – in the Dishman Hills Natural Area.”

The tree removal approach already has proven successful, Jeffries said. Officials have highlighted a fire that happened in July near Greenwood Memorial Terrace near Palisades Park, that remained manageable to fight because of prior thinning of the area.

“The retardant was able to penetrate the ground, the firefighters were in a safer environment, the flame lengths were less,” Jeffries said. “And then the overall forest resilience of the stand is actually a lot better compared to the area that wasn’t treated, meaning that we had a lot more survival of trees in the area that was treated.”

Though it may seem counterintuitive, Jeffries said tree removal brings the environment closer to its natural state.

“I grew up in Spokane, and my thought process on what a healthy forest was growing up was, ‘Oh, it’s natural, so that’s the way it’s supposed to be, right?’” Jeffries said. “Really, you’re supposed to have 15 to 20 feet between these trees … and fast-moving grass fires come through every five to 15 years and just thin that out.”

Ruth Gifford, director of the Dishman Hills Conservancy, pointed toward a number of thinning benefits for the ecosystem – particularly by reducing water and nutrient competition, reducing susceptibility to insect attacks and redistributing nutrients from the culled trees through their chips on the forest floor. Though the conservancy is not within the boundaries of the thinning project, Gifford and the board have been supporters of the mitigation efforts.

While the wood chips and altered tree distribution may look different from what hikers are used to, Gifford said the environment will ultimately still “have that forest feeling to it.”

“They’re gonna distribute themselves differently on the landscape, but all of those components that we feel so passionate about are still gonna be there, and they’re gonna be healthier for it,” she said.

While DNR contracted the Dishman Hills project out to a private company for $507,000, it hired offseason, local firefighters to work at Bear Lake, said DNR environmental planner Jessica Walston. Because it is a pilot project, the cost per acre of mitigation is not yet known, Walston said.

Jeffries said that in addition to reducing the available fuel for wildfires, hiring wildland firefighters for the Bear Lake project offers employment and training to otherwise seasonal workers.

“It gives you all this chainsaw experience all winter long, and then when you come back to fight fire the next season, you are a seasoned sawyer,” he said.

Because removing small trees is meant to simulate the impact of a fire without putting human infrastructure in harms way, trees will need to be culled again for the mitigative effect to remain, Maus said.

“How we’re doing that is going to be based on what funding looks like, what the science looks like,” Maus said. “All of these areas – it’s not a one and done.”

Jeffries said the upkeep for the projects will continue to get cheaper and easier. Follow-up work could be as simple as sending a crew out with weed whackers to remove new tree growth.

“We spend millions and millions of dollars on wildfire, and we’re just spending a fraction of the cost on the reductions,” Jeffries said.

Gifford recommends that visitors steer clear of the Dishman Hills Natural Area until the project is complete to avoid being struck by woodchips. Contractors will remain in the area no longer than May 15, Walston said, and crews at Bear Lake likely will be done much earlier.

Resources are available for individuals whose private properties may have a high fire risk through the DNR’s Landowner Assistance Portal, including the Wildlife Ready Neighbor program – which offers free consultations and emergency planning services – and a cost-share program to aid in funding the removal of overcrowded trees.