Press release from The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina:
2016’s unprecedented wildfires pointed to the need for homeowners to be aware of “defensible space” – an area around their homes that should be free of flammable vegetation. On January 27, The Nature Conservancy will help residents in McDowell County’s Gateway Mountain community create defensible space. The crew will be removing dead vegetation as well as live highly-flammable vegetation such as rhododendron and mountain laurel.
The skilled workers are part of the Conservancy’s controlled burn crew. These forestry experts usually work on controlled burns – helping to protect communities by removing fuel from the forest that drives large wildfires. Their work also improves forest health – many plants and animals in the Southern Blue Ridge are fire-dependent – they need fire to thrive and survive.
“Last year’s wildfires pointed to two problems: One, there are dangerous levels of fuels that have built up in our forests and two, homes near those forests need to have cleared space around them so that if a wildfire does begin, it doesn’t reach them,” says Adam Warwick, who directs the Conservancy’s fire work in the North Carolina Mountains. “The Nature Conservancy is addressing these issues through education as well as hands-on efforts to remove fuel through burning and other means such as the work we’ll be doing on January 27.”
This workday is the result of a partnership between the Conservancy, the NC Forest Service and the Appalachian Resource Conservation and Development Councils Coalition’s Fire Adapted Communities, McDowell County EMS, and the US Forest Service Grandfather Ranger District.
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