Today I got up early to head up to Hall Ranch, a recreation area east of Lyons, for a volunteer day with the Boulder County Department of Parks and Open Space, clearing branches from previously cut pine trees and building 'slash piles' in preparation for a prescribed burn.
Hall Ranch was home to Arapaho and Cheyenne Indian tribes way back when. Starting in the 19th century the area was homesteaded by no less than 20 families, and an old homestead from the early 20th century, the Nelson House, remains on the land. The name comes from Hallyn and June Hall, who operated a ranch on the property in the mid 1940s until 1993, when Boulder County acquired the land.
Today the open space provides about 12 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding, and supports a range of plant and animal life. Mule deer, mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, coyotes, elk, bighorn sheep, black-tailed prairie dogs, golden eagles, great horned owls, peregrine falcons, wild turkeys, and lots of other bird species live in the grassy meadows, dense shrubs, and Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir woodlands.
Prior to settlement, these forests were very open with only patches of tree stands, a state maintained by frequent low intensity surface wildfires. With settlement came fire suppression, grazing and landscape fragmentation, all of which contributed in changing the structure and function of the ecosystem. The woodlands became denser and bigger, shrinking the open grassy areas. Also, human-built structures like fences impeded wildlife movement. In an effort to restore these ecosystems, Boulder County Parks & Open Space implements thinning projects that result in conditions that more closely match what existed prior to interruption of the historic natural fire cycles.
There were ten of us volunteers, ranging from 8th grade to retirees, and two Parks & Open Space employees, working from 8am to noon. Large amounts of slash - limbs from trees - was generated from thinning operations prior to our work today, and our task was to help manage all of this material. We organized the slash into piles that can be burned much more easily and safely during winter. The prescribed surface burn will occur sometime between September 21 and October 31, with an area of approximately 66 acres.
The technique of building the slash piles was fairly methodical. Essentially we made igloo-shaped mounds of branches about six feet high. Once the initial pile was built up smaller branches were shoved into the crevices to fill in gaps and thicker branches were set on top. But nothing bigger than about 6" in diameter was put in the piles; the bigger stuff will be sold to the public as firewood. The idea is for the piles to burn hot and fast, and not smolder for days. Placement was important because apparently the flames can reach 20 feet high, so the piles need to be away from neighboring trees that are intended to survive the burnings.
The work consisted of lots of dragging and carrying armloads of branches, all Ponderosa pines, from where the tree was downed to the slash pile. Plenty of lopping was done too. I seemed to be the only volunteer who was willing to break out the handsaw and tackle some of the thicker stuff. We split off into groups and covered a pretty wide area. Building or topping off about a dozen piles.
I've biked Hall Ranch before and want to ride it again before winter. It has some seriously technical rock sections but also so real fun and flowy stretches. Ride report forthcoming. Now I'll ride with a bit of pride on Bitterbrush and Nelson trails knowing I've helped a little to keep the area more natural.
The only downside was after I got home, ate lunch, and watched the 4th quarter of the UNC game, I got hit with my worst headache in recent memory. Can't help but wonder if I simply got bombarded with Ponderosa pine pollen. My allergies have been very mild since moving out to Colorado, but this definitely felt like sinus headache.
The whole experience was really enjoyable and went by quick. It was cool to head back into where trails don't go, and to ask all kinds of questions to the Open Space guys. And it felt really good to be hard at work for a sold four hours! There are volunteer work days nearly every weekend into November, and I will definitely be signing up again.
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