Thinning the threat benefits forest, landowners

Ownership of forest lands may in Bonner County may have evolved over the years, but the threat of wildfire has not dissipated.

Professional forester Doug Bradetich has spent 40 years offering counsel to individual and corporate landowners on how to thin the threat of wildfire by removing hazardous fuels.

"Our intermountain forest lands lend themselves very well to commercial thinnings. We have a great mix of species and depending on elevation and what aspect you’re on, it’s very easy to come in and just thin through a forest - take out the dead, dying and diseased trees, lessen the biomass on any given acre and try to leave it healthier than when you entered it," said Bradetich.

Ownership of private forest lands is changing from companies and individuals owning expansive tracts to landowners with 5- or 10-acre parcels.

"One of their first things when they approach somebody like me is, 'How can I fire-proof my home?' That’s almost a regular question when I’m dealing with a private, wooded home site," said Bradetich.

Bradetich said newer landowners are particularly mindful of the wildfire threat partly because they are coming from areas where wildfire runs rampant.

"The long, dry summers we’ve had here the last several years, most of our forests here in the intermountain area are under some level of stress, and I’m seeing insects in many of the different species, pine and fir both, and trees dying from disease," said Bradetich.

Nevertheless, Bonner County has somehow escaped catastrophic wildfires that have raged in surrounding states and in Canada.

"We have been quite fortunate here in this area," Bradetich said.

Bradetich said it's unclear how Bonner County has dodged so many wildfire bullets over the years.

"It’s just the luck of the draw in a way," he said.

Today’s wildfires are the most feared components of Idaho’s forest threats, according to Idaho Forest Products Commission. In the last 100 years, fires were put out as quickly as possible.

But Fire suppression has created forests that are denser with more understory vegetation. When a fire ignites, it shoots up quickly from the forest floor to the treetops creating intense heat that burns everything in its path. Add more residential developments in these forests and you have the recipe for huge economic and personal losses, the commissions said.

The commission said 686,000 acres in Idaho burned in 2017 and fire-suppression costs to the state exceeded $20 million in 2018.

It cost the federal government nearly $3 billion to suppress wildland fires in 2017, according to the commission.

Bradetich said private landowners have options and a wealth of resources when it comes to protecting their property, such as the University of Idaho's extension-office programs or through the Idaho Department of Lands.

There is also Idaho Firewise (idahofirewise.org).

"If you’re a timber owner and you’re not certain what to do there’s a lot of resources out there,' Bradetich said.