Coconino County forest thinning project targets 500 acres near Arizona Snowbowl

COCONINO COUNTY, AZ (AZFamily) — Foresters are working to thin 500 acres of forest just south of Arizona Snowbowl near Aspen Corner as part of a larger, ongoing effort to protect Flagstaff’s watershed and reduce wildfire risk around the San Francisco Peaks.

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The current project costs nearly $3.5 million and is part of a multi-year county initiative to restore forest health in the area.

Why the work is being done

Jay Smith, the Coconino County Forest Restoration Director, said the county launched the intensive thinning effort after a study showed that an untreated fire in the area could be catastrophic.

“Nearly $3 billion of economic impact if there’s a fire and a flood in the upper Rio de Flag watershed,” Smith said.

Smith said the county’s forests are far denser than they should be. A healthy forest contains 70 to 80 trees per acre, but large portions of the local forest currently hold 1,000 to 2,000 trees per acre.

“We have a tree epidemic basically here, and so we’re trying to get that number back down to a more natural look,” Smith said.

Progress and what’s next

Loggers have been working for approximately a year and a half, cutting trees at the base of the San Francisco Peaks and, more recently, along Snowbowl Road. The county has treated 12,000 acres of forest so far.

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Smith said the areas being treated were identified as high priority.

“We knew they were real critical areas to treat and reduce that wildfire threat,” Smith said.

Upcoming work includes helicopter treatment of the thickest forest areas. The county expects to finish treating the current 500-acre area near Snowbowl this fall, then begin treating another 900 acres in the same area early next year.

Smith said the prevention investment is intended to avoid far greater losses.

“For us it just makes sense as a flood control district to do this work ahead of time, think ahead, really prevent the fire from getting that destructive,” Smith said.

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