Turtleback thinning and shaded fuel break installation

After the completion of the Action Plan for Forest Health and Climate Change Resiliency, Rain Shadow’s crew worked with the San Juan County Conservation Land Bank, the San Juan Preservation Trust, and the Island Conservation Corps to complete several demonstration projects, implementing some of the action plan’s suggested management strategies. These included a 2.6-acre upland forest thinning project intended to enhance forest health and a 0.6 shaded fuel break installation intended to reduce fire risk along about 600′ of Turtleback’s South Trail. Rain Shadow’s crew provided technical felling expertise and managed the creation of new snags (standing dead trees that provide valuable wildlife habitat) and chipping, using our tracked chipper.