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ffi[!rrrni;;Treatment Needs: Gle Elum Planning Area Maintenance treatments: A portion of existing open forests on dry sites need prescribed flre or mechanical methods to maintain open conditions by reducing ground fuels and excessive small trees that have grown in. An estimated 2,500 - 5,500 acres of treatments is currently recommended. Many of these areas have been recently treated, but will fill in over the next 10-15 years. lfi.&,,-f#$s. cH $Open forest with small trees growing in tf*, { rf Open forest after maintenance treatment Drv forest: Treating 8,000 - 1 1,000 acres of dense, dry forest acres (Table 1, Fig. 3) is recommended to flip the dry portion of the landscape from being dominated by dense conditions to open forest (Fig. 4. Extensive firewise treatments on parcels with homes are the highest priority. On public and private forestland without homes, creating larger patches of open canopy, fire resistant forest will reduce the current fragmentation of the dry for- est area and facilitate fire protection for communities. The priority treatments are on the north and south slopes of the valley to create defensible space zones. Moist and Gold forest: Treating 7,500-12,000 acres of dense, moist and cold forest is recommended to break up large patches of dense, multistory forest. This will reduce risk of a large crown fire and help current moist forests adapt to a warming climate. Shifting species composition toward ponderosa pine and wester larch is also recommended to increase fire, insect, and drought resistance. Treatments in large, medium and small diameter forest are needed. Post treatment, more than 1/2 of moist and cold forest will still be in a dense condition, leaving sufficient buffer for when characteristic fires burn dense forest habitat. Pre-treatment forest structure tvpes Post-treatment forest structure tvpes #ltt, & lf Medium Open frffif 3 {tr" Larte Open r Small Open r Med-Latge Open r Smali Dense r M*d-Large M Small Dense $$*s' (Treatment tvpe) Large-Medium Dense Figure 3. Potential Treatment Areas. Total area of target structure classes is shown. Only a portion needs fo hetreated. See lable 1. ^6" Figure 4. Current & post treat- ment percent of forest types. * mid-point of treatment range MM# -a 75Y* $lil nll .,..":'B:t::::i $s-.rt**, Cf*s'*or+ il i Dry Small Dense Moist Small Dense ffi ory tt,teo-Large Dense f Moisl-cold Med-Large Dense ff$ Dry Med-Large open Condltlons toTreat Slzc Class Treatment NeedAcree DryDense Moist-Cold Dense DryOpen on-comme treatment, maybe fire+ N4ay be ornon-commercla fire Commerical thin + neration harvest poss $;. : ,i OtrtR Tribal f orw a or state 8*{g Nco-Municipal fusrs mlndustrial I otherFederal PrivateMaintenance: prescribed fire or mechanical fuels treatment Anticipated Treatment Type Overall treatment needs: Treating an estimated 15,500 to 23,000 acres of dense forest is recommended (Table 1). A combi- ffineededtoaccomplishthisgoal,andmayincludecommercialandnon-commercialthinning,prescribed fire, regeneration harvests, and mechanical fuel reduction. Based on tree size class, many of the acres are commercially viable. Howev6r, road access, logging systems, habitat requirements, aquatic impacts, timber markets, and other considerations will deter- mine treatment type. MainGnance treatments on 2,500-6,000 acres are also recommended. lndividual landowners (Fig. 5) will con- duct their own fibld assessments, planning, and decision making processes to determine acres and types of treatments they can carry out to achieve the overall landscape goals while meeting their own management objectives and regulatory requirements. Table 1. Forest Health Treatment Need Figure 5. Land