More Big Trees Dying One Year After “Wildfire Fuel” Logging

One year after Jefferson County Open Space cut hundreds of fire-resistant mature and old growth trees up to 129 years of age in Elk Meadow Park in Evergreen, Colorado under the scientifically-challenged premise of “wildfire fuel reduction,” dozens more trees are dying as a result of the logging.

Photos taken on June 2 show many large ponderosa pines blown over by winds at the edge of clearcuts due to the lack of protective forest cover. The vast majority of the recently fallen were live trees along with a few standing dead snags, crucial for wildlife and an essential characteristic of mature and old-growth forest. Meanwhile, in adjacent unlogged groves, no newly fallen trees were found.  

Thanks to the clearcutting, the forest floor once home to native plants is now colonized by flammable invasive weeds along with stacks of logs left behind and large patches of mineralized soil from pile burning.

At a public “town hall” in February 2023, Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper falsely insisted that the county was not logging these older trees in Elk Meadow despite photographs proving otherwise on the table in front of her.

Jefferson County Open Space warns it may be “feasible” to log up to 25,270 acres of forests—39.5 square miles—across 32 public parks and hiking trails, at taxpayer expense. In 2022, Flying J Ranch Park’s popular hiking trails were devastated by 150 acres of clearcuts, with every single other county park on the chopping block.

Cutting carbon-storing mature and old-growth trees even goes against what Jefferson County Open Space has been telling the public it’s doing in its own “Forest Health Plan.” Specifically, the plan claims to “promote larger diameter and fire-resistant trees such as ponderosa pine,” while stating that mature trees are “underrepresented and, in most cases, should be favored for retention.”

JeffCo has held no public hearings and given no notice for any of these logging projects with very little media coverage, so citizens have no opportunity for input. Further, County Commissioners Lesley Dahlkemper, Tracy Kraft-Tharp, and Andy Kerr have refused to respond to a citizen petition signed by over 662 people asking the county to incorporate wildfire science into their decision making.

Meanwhile, a large and growing body of peer-reviewed scientific studies show that not only won’t logging protect communities from the natural and essential process of wildfire, tree-cutting can make flames burn hotter and spread faster by opening forests to sunlight and wind.

To the contrary, the scientific consensus is that hardening homes—Firewise measures such as installing non-flammable roofs and maintaining defensible space 15-60 feet around structures, the “home ignition zone”–can save the vast majority from the most intense wildfires.