What IS a Saws & Slaws Event? by Jody Dickson & Linda MartinMaybe you’ve heard of Saws & Slaws before but don’t know exactly what we do. Saws & Slaws is a community organization that brings neighbors together to do wildfire mitigation and attend to the health of our forest. We do that primarily by organizing monthly events every month Mother Nature allows! Our ‘legacy’ events are typically three to four neighboring properties where we work at whatever needs done for four hours. This can be felling trees, hauling and chipping slash, raking around a home, week-wacking weeds or more. Volunteers make it possible to get a large amount of…

Application of Fire Ecology by Jody Dickson & Linda MartinWhen we are deciding what work we need to do in order to be effective, it helps to have a basic understanding of fire ecology and behavior. Fire ecology looks at fire’s role within an ecosystem, including when and why a wildfire happens as well as the impacts of that fire on the ecosystem. We know that our particular forest ecology is fire-dependent which means there are native plant species that NEED fire in order to be healthy. Since animals, including humans, depend on plants, the plants being healthy is necessary for us and wildlife to be healthy as well. However,…

We are excited for summertime and our 2022 summer season being in full swing. Our June 11th event went well, despite the heat and steep slopes. We worked in the area around Lionel Lane and Coal Creek Heights Dr. We processed a lot of tall trees, so it created a lot of logs (and firewood. See below.) We got slash out of the forest and hauled a few loads to the Nederland sort yard. An especially big thank you to our drivers who made the trips over to the sort yard. This batch was mostly dry and dead, and we acknowledge that is the hardest stuff to load and unload!…

Fantastic Start to the Season May was an amazing start to our 2022 season. At the very beginning, we hosted our Spring 2022 Chainsaw Skills and Safety class. We hold this class every year as it is a requirement for being a sawyer at one of our events but also to give everyone a chance to learn more about operating a chainsaw safely and effectively. This year we had a couple of people from not associated with any group, a small group from Axe & Snax, our peers in Gilpin County, and another person from the Crescent Park Community Fire Protection Agency. It is great that we can share the wealth…