Wildfires are a natural part of the ecosystem in the American West. In recent years, however, wildfires in many areas have become uncharacteristically severe, affecting not only large swaths of forest but also burning private properties and residences. This is of increasing concern especially in places where new development is expanding the interface between urban and wildland areas.

In 2012, when the Majestic Methow was selected as the fourteenth and final Treasured Landscapes campaign site, the NFF and Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest committed to undertake a significant restoration effort to increase the fire-resiliency of a large swath of overgrown forest along Driveway Butte, Sandy Butte, Lucky Jim Bluff and the Lost River Road in Mazama. This effort, dubbed the “Lost Driveway Hazard Fuels Thinning Project”, will kick into high gear now that a contractor has been selected and is expected to begin work as early as this summer.

“The community along the Lost Driveway Project area has demonstrated its foresight and commitment to sustainability by thinning dense forest stands on their private properties.”

Bill Possiel, NFF President

The Lost Driveway Project could not have happened without strong community support. Victoria Simmons, a local resident and owner of private property adjacent to the affected Forest Service lands, is frequently described as the catalyst behind the effort. Originally from Seattle, she and her husband Rob moved to Mazama in 1999. Their first brush with wildfire came in 2003, when the Needles Fire burned 24,000 acres of Forest Service lands nearby. Then, in 2010, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (“DNR”) and Forest Service entomologists pinpointed the overgrown forests around Mazama as a potential hot-spot for a Tussock Moth epidemic.

They explained that these moths, which emerge in periodic cycles every nine to ten years, can eat all of the needles off of Douglas fir trees, killing large stands of these iconic trees. Although the affected trees on both the National Forest and private property were treated in time to prevent a Tussock moth outbreak, Ms. Simmons remembers Forest Service staff explaining to local residents that this treatment was merely a Band-Aid. The real problem was more complicated: following a long history of fire suppression, Douglas fir trees were now growing too densely and creating conditions that increased the forest’s susceptibility to insect infestation and severe wildfires.

Ms. Simmons began to educate herself about forest health issues. She says that she quickly learned that, “small fires used to naturally run through our area and clean out our forests. Now, due to a long history of fire suppression, so much excess fuel has accumulated that fires burn hotter than they used to – sometimes so hot that they can even sterilize the soil.”

Determined to restore the forest’s natural resilience, Ms. Simmons began reaching out to her fellow community members, DNR, the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, and the NFF about the importance of thinning the forest on private and federal lands in the area. “Since we humans have changed the course of nature,” she says, “we feel it is our responsibility to help manage our forests to get them back to a healthier and sustainable state.” Following a significant community-wide effort to thin forest stands on the private properties lining the Project area with the assistance of National Fire Plan Grant funds administered by the DNR, the NFF, in partnership with the Forest Service, selected the Lost Driveway Project as one of a suite of landscape-level restoration projects that are part of the Majestic Methow campaign.

Meg Trebon, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Methow Valley Ranger District, recognizes that “the community interaction on this Project really got it off the ground and moving. We are very grateful for the amount of interaction and support we received and are really looking forward to seeing the difference on forest lands once work on the ground begins this summer.” The North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative has also been tracking implementation of this important project.

The nearly $1 million contract recently awarded by the Forest Service is a first significant step toward getting Project implementation underway. Work crews will thin understory trees up to eight inches in diameter to reduce the likelihood of crown fires developing. The thinned trees will be bucked into 4-foot lengths, hand-piled, and eventually burned. The work, which will begin this summer and is expected to run through the end of October, 2016, will treat 18 units covering 61 percent of the project area – a total of 1,485 acres. All project areas immediately adjacent to private properties will be treated, and timber will be left on the ground to be available for firewood collection with a valid Forest Service firewood permit.

Crews will abide by various restrictions in completing the work: due to excessively dry conditions, a partial saw-shutdown is already in place this summer, requiring all chainsaw operations to be paused from 1:00 to 8:00 pm daily. Additional restrictions may be imposed depending on local fire hazard levels. Crews will also be unable to enter certain project units until August 1^st or August 15^th, 2015, to minimize disturbances to sensitive and endangered nesting birds. The NFF and Forest Service expect to add further units to the project work plan as additional funding is made available. “The community along the Lost Driveway Project area has demonstrated its foresight and commitment to sustainability by thinning dense forest stands on their private properties,” said Bill Possiel, NFF President. “We are pleased that work on the Lost Driveway Project is now picking up to similarly restore adjacent areas on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. This important project demonstrates the power of community action, and stands as an example for other municipalities to become proactive and help return our forests to a more resilient state.”

For more information about the Lost Driveway Project, please contact Meg Trebon, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Methow Valley Ranger District, at (509) 996-4032. For information about the NFF’s Treasured Landscapes: Majestic Methow campaign, please contact Natalie Kuehler at (509) 996-4057 or Dayle Wallien at (206) 832-8280, or click here.