November 2019
This week we were back on Hitch in the Balcones Canyonlands.
We were there protecting local residents from wildfires by creating a shaded fuel break removing large amounts of low hanging cedar trees and other brush.
The dimensions for a shaded fuel break are 30 feet back everything hanging 6ft or below, or anything smaller than 10-foot-tall and 4 inches in diameter is removed. This enables a break in fuel so that if a wildfire were to occur it can’t spread across this low fueled area and so the houses are protected, this works in reverse where if a house fire or an out of control BBQ occurs the forest is also protected.
The cut material was then chipped and re-spread to less than 2inches deep to the same areas putting the nutrients back into the soil.
The cabin in the woods we were very kindly loaned for our group meals by the Balcones Canyonland preservation ☺
