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Anchorage’s boreal forests consist of black spruce, white spruce, lutz spruce, paper birch, and cottonwood. This picture was taken before fire mitigation work was done at the Hilltop Fuel Break.
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The dead trees eventually fall over and create a "ladder" fuel effect. This allows a surface fire to climb its way into the canopy of the forest and become a crown fire. Crown fires are dangerous for people and homes because they throw embers in front of the flames that can cause secondary fires under your deck or on your roof.
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The Mat Su crew was hired to do the fuel mitigation in 2001. This crew is made of 20 Emergency Fire Fighters who are trained in wildland fire suppression and tree falling. Having this additional suppression resource in Anchorage during the fire season gave us extra insurance for putting out a wildfire right of way!
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Once the large trees were felled, a 518 CAT skidder took them out of the woods. They were then hauled to local mills.
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In the fuel break zone, the slash (trees and limbs) was piled and burned to remove the forest fuels on the ground.
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The forest understory is much thinner now. Open areas will be allowed to regenerate and provide considerable habitat and forage for local wildlife. The newly emerging shrubs and herbs will cover the forest floor by spring time.
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From the Abbott road parking lot, the fall colors reveal the plentiful birch trees across the west edge of the Hilltop fuel break. This view shows where we left a lot of healthy spruce trees in the forest fuel treatment zone.
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