Three acres north of Lake of the Rockies is earmarked to become the site of a wildfire mitigation demonstration.

The TriLakes Monument Fire Protection District gave a presentation to Monument Town Council Oct. 7 during the council’s regular meeting at town hall where it noted the components of Forest Management and what the district is calling The Monument Lake Project. Division Chief-Operations Jonathan Bradley made the presentation.

Forest management is manipulating a forest’s vegetation to achieve a stated objective and the project is intended to restore the forest to a fire adapted condition, protect the adjoining neighborhoods from wildfire and inspire individual property owners.

A fire adaptive forest is one where fire can burn without causing severe damage, which recovers quickly. Black Forest near Shoup Road was noted as an example.

The aim of The Lake Monument Project is to provide wildfire mitigation treatment supporting the Lake of the Rockies subdivision and provide a wildfire mitigation demonstration area for the public view.

“What we are going to create is an area where we can demonstrate to [people] what a safe wildfire mitigation project is,” Bradley said. “Timber, shrub, grasses, etc. It’ll be done by professionals and we plan on having interpretive signs with the before and after photo so people can see the work that was done. And then they can duplicate that on their properties as well.”

Bradley said the project started after a conversation with Cassie Olgren last March. She asked the fire department if it could provide some expertise for that area south of Monument Lake which borders the Lake of the Rockies subdivision, and the town had planned on doing the work, Bradley said.

Couple of months later, the fire district had received a grant from the Community Wildfire Protection Plan which involved funds for a demonstration area for a wildfire mitigation.

“The grant maker has approved the funds to be used on this particular site,” he said.

In the presentation, Bradley discerned the differences between healthy trees and what wildfire mitigation efforts determine as “poor vigor” trees, of which the project would look to remove with exceptions.

“We want to show what it looks like to cut that back space for some of our larger trees to thrive,” he said.

Poor vigor trees, although being the same ages as the more robust ones, are more susceptible to disease and infestation and carry a shorter lifespan. Bradley said not all the dead and standing trees will be removed because they also serve habitat for nesting birds and other small creatures.

“I walk down that way a lot and it’s a pretty nice area but it is pretty dense,” Mayor Pro Tem Steve King said.

Overall, there will be very few trees removed, Bradley said. The project involves moving the shrub from underneath the drip line, some large trees, but the project will keep some stands of oak that are outside the drip line. Some other species of shrubs will also be kept closer to the dam of Monument Lake since they are less volatile in a wildfire situation and also provide habitat for some ground-nested animals.

Bradley clarified that efforts would involve solely mechanical removal and masticating, and no burning would be involved.

Either a simple contract, Memo of Understanding, or a resolution possibly to establish the partnership between the town and the district for the project is expected to be coming before the board in the future.

The TriLakes Monument Fire Protection District is looking to use this three acre area north of the Lake of the Rockies subdivision, south of Monument Lake, as a wildfire mitigation demonstration project since the area is in dire need of it as well. (Courtesy graphic by TriLakes Monument

Fire Protection District)