I reminder on why we work so hard to keep Alpine Acres a Fire Wise Certified Area

Firewise Toolkit2016Homeowner Checklist

Please consider this new checklist to be firewise to protect you cabin!

http://summitcounty.org/list.aspx?mode=del

If clicking the link doesn’t work, please copy and paste the link into your browser.

A no ‘open fire’ restriction has been placed on Alpine Acres Association. Please report any and all open fires immediately and kindly notify persons with open fire of the restriction.  effective 7/29/2016 10:00 am

Summit County nor USFS nor DNR have imposed fire restrictions on our area. Salt Lake County and many others have imposed Class 2 restrictions in their respective areas. There are essentially three classes of restriction;

Class 1- No restriction- open fires (camp fires, warming fires, brush piles, etc) allowed within rules of common sense (clear the ground around, no overhanging vegetation, have suppression equipment (shovel, rake, water bucket,etc) on hand.

Class 2- No open fires- Fires are allowed within approved containment structures in campgrounds, picnic grounds and permanently improved places of habitation, again within rules of common sense.

Class 3- No outside fires of any type.

I’ve photocopied an excerpt from the Utahfireinfo webpage for your reference. There’s a very informative video on the site as well.

Alpine Acres has just imposed Class 2 restrictions until further notice or more stringent restrictions are put in place by Summit County or the agencies

We have the forest service crew coming this Tuesday, July 26, 2016. We will be meeting at the fire shed at 8 am. please see attached map of piles to be chipped.

Alpine Acres Wood Chipping Piles July 2016

Please see the most recent newsletter for Firewise Council.

Fire Break news: Wildfire risk reduction information and resources from NFPA Share this newsletter | View as webpage

Please see the In-Kind Tracking form to log all your hard work. Please email these to any board member.

In Kind Blank Form

In Kind Sample Form example

November 19, 2015 FIRE COUNCIL UPDATE – Check out this great video

http://http://wildfire.blog.nfpa.org/2015/11/new-video-highlights-key-research-on-home-ignition-during-wildfires.html

October 23, 2015

This information is very helpful to identify the type of trees being attacked within our association area.

Yes I did notice a few Douglas Fir on the Zions’s property, and yes there are
Engleman Spruce. The easiest way to identify the two is from the cones. The first picture is a spruce cone and the second is the Fir cone.

Currently, Spruce beetle is attacking trees within the community. This tree can be sprayed but the tree can not be located within 100′ of running water. There is some Douglas-fir beetle activity further down the canyon but given the low densities within Alpine Acres I do not foresee it being as big of a problem as the spruce. About a month ago myself and our Forest Health Coordinator Colleen Keyes visited the area with Jim and identified several spruce trees which had been attacked earlier this year. The trees attacked this year will start turning color next Julyish.  Hope this helps and let me know if you have further questions.

Thanks,

PJ Abraham
Area Forester
Forestry, Fire & State Lands
2210 S. Hwy. 40, Ste. B
Heber City, UT 84032
www.ffsl.utah.gov
(435) 671-3326

ALERT – June 30, 2015:Please note the most current update from PJ Abraham today during my phone call:

During my visit I also noticed some spruce beetle activity. Alpine Acres has two different types of spruce. Engelmann and Blue Spruce. The spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) prefers the Engelmann spruce over the Blue. There are more blue spruce in Alpine Acres than Engelmann. Spraying the trees is an option to help prevent mortality but trees within 75 feet of running water cannot be treated. If treatment occurs it should be done in the fall as the spruce beetle flies early in the spring which would lead to access issues due to snow on the roads. 

Needle Cast Damage to Lodge Pole Pines:

Lodgepole pine needle cast mostly impacts sapling to pole sized trees, but when large stands of smaller trees are present it can cause damage over a wide area.  The disease rarely kills large trees, but in some locations, the defoliation has been persisting for up to 3 or 4 years, a condition which may result in mortality of some trees particularly if damage is again present in 2016, particularly in the smaller size classes.

Needle cast fungi share similar biology, but differences in their life cycles can help determine which particular disease-causing fungus is present.  The basic biology shared by needle cast fungi includes:

1. The fungi infect needles, which die early, are retained on the tree for a variable amount of time, and are cast (early needle drop) the following summer or fall.

2.  The disease cycle (See Figure 5, Appendix) usually takes one year, but can in some cases take multiple years.

3. Most of the pathogens have similar morphological features.

4. They usually require free moisture in the form of mist, fog, or rain on the foliage to cause infection. Therefore, infection is usually more severe in moist areas.

5. Fruiting bodies of the fungi involved develop on the needles and mature in time to be dispersed when the next generation of needles is susceptible.

Thank you PJ for this great update. dwp

ALERT: We obtained a one day early bird special with the county for wood chipping wood piles this coming June 1, 2015. Lets get what is already out on the roads cleaned up. We will also announce other dates at BBQ picnic. If you can get some clean up this weekend, please put along side your road. You can leave a note from the website to let us know! THANK YOU ALL – Fire Council Team – Bob Sluder

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Released May 8, 2015

ALPINE ACRES ENTHUSIASTICALLY CELEBRATES 6TH ANNIVERSARY OF PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION’S (NFPA) FIREWISE PROGRAM

Alpine Acres is celebrating its 6th year of participation in the NFPA’s FIREWISE COMMUNITIES USA program, a voluntary initiative to protect local residents, their property and natural resources from wildfires. We are among a group of ten communities in the entire state of Utah. Since we earned the distinction as an official Firewise Community, local leaders, emergency responders and individual homeowners have come together to make significant advances in making our community safer from wildfire.

Alpine Acres became a Firewise Community in 2010. Since then the community created and executed a variety of activities to help create the best wildfire prevention plan for the community.

“Because wildfires are burning hotter and faster than ever before, it’s more important than ever to take safety steps now,” said Bob Sluder, AA Fire Council Chairman. “Wildfires will happen and we want to be as ready as possible to prevent damage to our community’s buildings, resources and most importantly, our residents, their families and guests.

Some of the Firewise activities undertaken by the community over the years in partnership with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands and the US Forest Service include;
        o established a one-mile long shaded fire break along our entire southern boundary
        o established additional fire breaks along the main road and several Association roads
        o on several occasions had 15+ firefighters clearing standing dead trees throughout AA
        o installed dry fire hydrants at key river access points in the subdivision
        o held numerous chipper days following the residents’ enthusiastic property clearing
        o constructed and stocked a Fire Council tool shed for maintenance/emergency response
        o conducted on-going home assessments and advised owners on protection strategies

“We are particularly proud when a community reaches an anniversary milestone like Alpine Acres” said Michele Steinberg, manager of the NFPA Firewise Communities program. “Your dedicated fire and safety professionals and motivated residents have truly helped minimize wildfire risk factors, and their hard work surely has paid off.

In order to become part of NFPA’s Firewise program, the community engaged in the following activities:
        o completed a community assessment and created a plan that identifies agreed-upon achievable solutions to be implemented our the community
        o sponsored a local Firewise Task Force Committee, ie our Fire Council, which maintains the Firewise Communities/USA program and tracks progress
        o observed a Firewise Day each year, dedicated to accomplishing our identified strategies
        o invested a minimum of $2.00 per capita annually in local Firewise projects
        o submitted an annual report to Firewise Communities/USA that documents continuing compliance with the program

The Alpine Acres Board and the Fire Council want to thank our Association homeowners for their past efforts and want to strongly encourage you to continue those efforts (or if you haven’t already started, to commence a wildfire protection strategy for you, your family and your treasured property).We will be announcing the schedule for our chipping as soon as we can coordinate with the county. In the meantime, let’s see those slash piles continue to grow alongside our roadways, it’s a great testament to the work you all are doing. We are here to assist you and to work side by side with you to do all we can as we face the ever-increasing threat of wildfire in the Upper Weber Canyon.