Even if the primary vegetation around your home is Gambel Oak, your community can still face a substantial wildfire threat. Know the danger and reduce the risk.
Mitigating Oak
- Thinning oak allows remaining plants to become healthier and more resistant to drought, insects, and disease.
- A thoughtful mitigation plan will retain important privacy barriers.
- A process known as machine mastication is cost-effective and a quick way to mitigate large areas of oak.
- Grasses and wildflowers will return to newly masticated areas after a season or two.
- Oak grows back! Mow mitigated areas every year before new shoots become too woody to be handled by a lawnmower.
- Remove oak from under pine trees. It can act as a “ladder fuel,” with fire climbing from oak to the pines. Then you could lose your trees, and the fire may spread from the trees to your house.
For more information refer to the Colorado State Forest Service Publication 6.311 on Gambel Oak.
Click here for a Printable brochure of Gamble Oak mitigation.