Hello everyone,

We are nearing the completion of Phase 1 of our grant. The grant coordinator, Nestor, will be along this week to create a follow up list of work to circle back too. Our main goals will be to make sure that trees are limbed up 10-15 feet from the road. We understand that we have all had to be flexible with road closures and work crews, but we appreciate the patience.

What about the ivy?The problem with ivy is it grows back quickly. Instead, we are focusing on removing ladder fuels so that a ground fire will not spread to the canopy. This should have a longer staying power then cutting back the ivy.

What about the ivy growing into the trees? Although it will be messy for an awhile, but the ivy growing into the canopy will eventually dry up and fall down. Feel free to pull some down yourself, but we would have lost thousands of dollars of grant money, if we had climbers go up and remove the ivy from all our trees.

What's happening with all the odd tree stumps?We are very much aware that we have a lot of awkward redwood stumps in Chemeketa Park. The problem is that we can't really grind them out. Why? Stump grinders need to start at ground level and grind down. All of our awkward stumps are above the road, so there is not a real place for the stump grinder to go. Believe us, we tried.

But can't we kill these stumps another way? No, herbicides often kill the surrounding trees, so we just have to keep cutting back the saplings until the stump gives up.

But did we really need to kill those redwoods on upper Ogallala?Yes, we only have 3 roads into our community of 150 homes. Firefighters need access to all 3 roads, so that multiple engines can be here at once. As far as fire crews go during a wildfire, the more the merrier.

Besides, it made our Redwood Estates firefighters very happy, and we quote "Great job, the crew are very pleased !!" Check out the pictures below.

What's next?Phase 2 of the grant will begin sometime next year. In phase 2, we will focus on creating shaded fuel breaks in the forests surrounding our community. This will help to create a buffer zone between our community and neighboring overgrown forests.

Thank you everybody for all of your help. Let's continue to work together to make our community safer from wildfire!