For 13 years Boulder County Parks and Open Space has worked to restore the 15,000 acres of forest it manages to pre-settlement levels by using prescribed burns to thin overcrowded stands of trees and clear out underbrush.
The current restoration project at Hall Ranch Open Space is set to remove 150 trees per acre across a 15-acre patch of forest outside of Lyons. Once completed, Parks and Open space can safely reintroduce fire into the ecosystem due to the ponderosa pine’s fire-resistant bark and lack of low-hanging limbs. With less competition for water and the burned underbrush acting as a fertilizer for the remaining trees, the forest not only becomes more resilient to wildfire, but also insect infestation, disease and floods.