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High Park Fire BAER Team Releases Report

USDA
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CreativeCommons/Flickr

The High Park Fire Burned Area Emergency Response – or BAER team has released a treatment plan for restoring the more than 87-thousand acres that burned last month northwest of Fort Collins. 

Flooding has been a major concern over the burn area since the fire was contained on July 1st. Until the natural vegetation returns, crews plan to drop mulch and seed from the air over 5,604 acres of the most critically burned areas to prevent additional flash flooding. Reghan Cloudman is with the US Forest Service.

Credit Flickr/Creative Commons/Drab Makyo
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Drab Makyo
Smoke billows from the High Park Fire on June 9th, 2012
“That’s the hope. These treatments are strategically placed.  And they’re placed to try and reduce that erosion in those high and moderate burn areas.   And they’re located were life safety or property is at risk, or where there’s a high risk to the public water supply.”

An additional 5,657 acres are slated for seeding.

Other treatments outlined in the $24 million dollar plan include road repairs, temporary closures of forest service trails, and cutting down trees that are causing an immediate hazardous threat to life and property.

The cost to local sponsors and private landowners could be around 9.3 million dollars.

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