Category Archives: Uncategorized

Prescribed burn planned FY2024

The USFS has posted a map (see below) to their twitter feed showing a planned prescribed burn for the Monument Preserve in Fiscal Year 2024 (which starts October 1st). From the image, it appears that the fire zone will basically be North of Schilling Ave. No further details available at this point. Per their website:

“In the ongoing effort to create and sustain resilient forests and grasslands, fire crews on the PSICC implement prescribed fire projects. Planned ignitions will begin when weather and fuel conditions become optimal for achieving management objectives while keeping smoke impacts to surrounding communities to a minimum. Weather and fuel conditions are closely monitored and the prescribed burning program will continue as long as conditions remain favorable.”

USFS Fuels Reduction Project – June 2023

Just a heads up that USFS has accelerated their schedule and has begun work on the section of forest west of Mount Herman Rd and our neighborhood. Please see the pic below and the linked post from FOMP for more details:

https://fomp.org/2023/06/06/pikes-peak-ranger-district-to-implement-upper-monument-creek-fuels-reduction-project/

Chipping Day – Sunday August 21st @ 7am

Hey everyone!

The day to shred some oak is almost here. Looks like there are some piles out at the road, cut ends out as requested.

For homeowners interested, a few of us will be gong through Saturday to cut and clear some more before the chipper day on Sunday. If you are interested please mark desired take/cut or leave trees with flagging and contact me so I can plan accordingly. If you would like assistance in determining which trees to take or leave you can contact Mark Petree or myself. If you would like to help Saturday as well please reach out to me.

The chipper will be coming from CUSP and will be capable of anything up to 8″ diameter.

We will Be starting over by Ken’s Place on Doolittle. If you have a chainsaw probably best to bring it. Will probably have saws running for firewood and in ROWs as we go.

See you soon.

Monument Preserve Fire Mitigation pictures

After the crew was done today, I got out and took a quick look at the progress made during the first day of mitigation. It is incredible, to say the least. The masticators made quick work of huge swaths of scrub oak, while they appear to leave the evergreens alone. They also left small islands of scrub oak and appeared to fill the trails with debris but not actually damage the trail beds themselves much.

Trail full of debris

Large areas of scrub oak completely cleared

You can see the masticator way in the background here. It is essentially a huge tracked backhoe w/ a rolling mace on the end of the arm

USFS Fire Mitigation in the Monument Preserve

Starting today, 2022-05-16, the USFS will be conducting thinning operations at the Monument Preserve as a form of fire mitigation. These operations are a part of the larger Upper Monument Creek Landscape Restoration Project to restore forests in the Rampart Range area.

Our neighborhood assisted the development of this plan — so your hard work has come to fruition!

Visit the Friends of the Monument Preserve website for more information.

3rd Fire Mitigation Event – Firebreak at S7

A cold and snowy day is no match for this crew! Braving 6 °F temps and blowing snow, members of the south and west crews completed an end-to-end clear-cut through the S7 gully. Approximately 20 truckloads of slash were cut, ready for bucking, drag-out, and chipping. Although by no means complete, we now have access into the gully to finish the job. Watch your email for an upcoming mitigation event!

2nd Firewise Event 2020-10-03 – Unstoppable Progress!

Our community held its second FireWise event on Saturday October 3rd, 2020. Although we had a smaller contingent, as expected due to vacations, we made great progress on our plan, completing the mitigation of areas S4 and W6. A few of us hung in there and got a start on the new firebreak for the gully at S7, too!