It’s been a year and a half since the Lower North Fork fire destroyed 24 structures and killed three people. Signs of rebuilding are sparse in the forested southern part of Jefferson County about 10 miles from Conifer.
But West Range Reclamation, based in Hotchkiss, has begun work to remove hazardous trees and dead timber from the surrounding roads and homes or from the areas where buildings used to stand.
According to Ryan Lockwood, public and media relations coordinator for the Colorado State Forest Service, of the 4,140 acres affected by the fire, the Lower North Fork Recovery Project is treating approximately 390 acres of private lands within the fire perimeter.
West Range started on the project in early May and expects to be done by Sept. 20. Rain and a fire in nearby Foxton created some delays.
Lockwood said the Governor’s Office directed the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to administer $1.3 million for recovery operations.
Chuck Dennis, chief forester for West Range Reclamation, said the company, hired by the state, is removing limbs and the tops of burned trees. These are set aside until the usable logs are loaded and sorted.
Any usable logs are sent out to local sawmills. Some smaller logs will go to wood yards, and the slash and unusable material is being ground up, loaded into chip beds and trucked off to markets for use as mulch.
“Everything is getting utilized. There are a few landowners who want logs left, so we have done that for them if they want us to leave them a little wood,” Dennis said.
Tom Scanlan, a homeowner who lost everything, said, “West Range has been doing a great job.”
He wasn’t as complimentary about the state’s efforts to process homeowner claims, which he said were delayed at different stages.
“The reclamation funding was approved last September. They are finally doing it now. I wouldn’t complain about the Forest Service, but the fact that it has taken so long means the families have not been able to move on,” he said.
Scanlan said some families have had to leave as a result of the delays. He is rebuilding.
He credited the Mountain Resource Center in Conifer with providing ongoing assistance to families.
“When this occurred, they were there immediately
,” Scanlan said.
Karen Groves: 303-954-2303, kgroves@denverpost.com
