Posts tagged city of Boulder
A plague of ash borers? Not yet.
Nov 7th
In late September, the emerald ash borer (EAB), an invasive pest of ash trees was identified within the city limits of Boulder. Since that time, staff from the City of Boulder Forestry Division and the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) have worked cooperatively to complete a visual assessment of all public and private ash trees within a half mile of the initial infestation.
Staff visually assessed hundreds of ash trees from the ground, looking for symptoms of infestation, which include large branch dieback in the tree crown, woodpecker damage and excessive sprouting. Fortunately, no obviously symptomatic ash trees were discovered outside of the initial cluster of infested trees, however; EAB is very difficult to detect in early stages. To determine the full extent of infestation, a delimitation survey begins this week. The survey is being conducted by staff from city forestry, CDA, Colorado State University Extension, and forestry staff from other Front Range cities who have graciously offered to assist. It is anticipated to take up to six weeks to complete.
For the delimitation survey, the city has been divided into plots or grids of one-square mile each. Crews will remove two small branches from each of 10 ash trees near the center of each plot. The branch samples will be peeled and examined closely for the presence of emerald ash borer life stages. The branch sampling protocols were developed by the Canadian Forest Service (CFS). The CFS found by performing random branch sampling on asymptomatic trees with this technique, they were able to detect EAB several miles away from the original location before trees become symptomatic. The goal is to determine the full extent of infestation within the city limits. The results of the survey will also help guide the future city of Boulder EAB Response Plan to manage the infestation within the city and potentially slow the spread to nearby communities.
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, the city of Boulder is hosting an EAB “tree dissection” for forestry staff from other Front Range cities and Wyoming. Staff from CSU Extension, Colorado Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine (USDA APHIS PPQ) will be on hand to teach other forestry professionals what EAB looks like and to demonstrate branch peeling techniques to find EAB larvae. More dissections are planned to educate tree care companies.
There are approximately 38,000 city park and public street rights-of-way trees under the jurisdiction of the Boulder Parks and Recreation Urban Forestry Division; approximately 6,000 are ash trees (15 percent of the public tree population).
For more information, please contact the City of Boulder Parks and Recreation Department’s Forestry Division at 303-413-7245.
–CITY–
The heat is on, Jack.
Jun 13th
In response to an increased wild land fire risk related to current weather conditions, Boulder Fire-Rescue will conduct daily “severity patrols” in Boulder’s urban interface areas and surrounding open space. This is being done in order to closely monitor conditions and to provide a quick response should a fire be spotted or reported.
This proactive approach was also used last summer, when a crew on routine patrol was the first to respond at the scene of the Flagstaff fire. That quick response, coupled with extensive mutual aid and timely aerial support, proved beneficial in limiting the fire to 300 acres.
The severity patrols are scheduled to begin on Thursday, June 13, 2013 and will continue indefinitely. Crews will patrol areas both inside of and adjacent to the city of Boulder, concentrating on the western edges of town, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. The patrols will take place seven days a week.
Three-person wild land crews will staff a Type 6 brush truck. The size of the brush truck allows it to access areas which would be difficult for larger equipment to navigate. The truck carries approximately 300 gallons of water, hoses and tools.
Wild land firefighting techniques are different than the techniques used to fight building fires in urban areas. Wild land crews use hand tools and chain saws to remove trees and brush, in essence “starving” the fire of fuel. Water is used in the clean up stages and is not considered the main fire suppression strategy.
Severity patrols are being conducted by both City of Boulder crews and the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office. This will allow for a timely response along the western edge of the city.
— CITY–
[includeme src=”http://c1n.tv/boulder/media/bouldersponsors.html” frameborder=”0″ width=”670″ height=”300″]