Feb 23, 2021
Back To Good Health: Firefighting Pilots Now Seeding Pine Gulch Burn Scar
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MESA COUNTY, Colo (CBS4) – The burn scar from the one of the largest wildfires in Colorado’s history is already showing signs of new life. This week the same pilots who helped fight the Pine Gulch Fire are dropping seeds over the most heavily-scarred areas.
Pine Gulch Fire (credit: Inciweb)
“For those areas that had higher burn intensity, we look at seeding and so we’re seeding 22,000 acres out of the 139,000 that burned, and those are the areas that are going to need it most,” said Eric Coulter, Public Affairs Specialist for the Bureau of Land Management’s upper Colorado river district.
READ MORE: Small Pieces Of United Airlines Flight 328 Becoming Collectors Items In BroomfieldThe aerial seeding efforts are the most efficient way to access the thousands of remote acres. Luckily, the pilots know it well.
“One of the really cool things is, the airplanes used are SEAT, or single engine air tanker, and these same pilots were fighting the Pine Gulch Fire with fire retardant in these same planes, and then they convert them over for seeding purposes, so they’re kind of seeing this to the end and getting this done,” said Coulter.
(credit: Bureau of Land Management)
The seeds are all native vegetation, collected and studied by volunteers prior to the mission.
“The Mule Deer Foundation supplied volunteers that did seed collection on these fires and critical habitat stuff. We worked with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. They actually added some seed to this project to be able to seed about 1,500 acres where they were really interested in improving wildlife habitat, so we used some of their seed with this also,” Coulter said. “They have a seed storage facility in Delta, Colorado for these types of things. So, it really is the community, volunteers, partners, public agencies, coming together to get these lands restored back to good health.”
READ MORE: Parker Police Turn Over Results Of Von Miller Investigation To District Attorneys OfficeThe seeding isn’t the only item of the list of things to do to help restore the burn area, but it’s the most expensive of the efforts. Recently the, BLM was awarded $3.5 million for rehabilitation efforts. While most will go towards the seeding efforts, it will fund other important projects.
Pine Gulch Fire (credit: CBS)
“Roadwork, trail work, signage repair. We plan to have these things implemented within the year.”
Despite historically dry conditions, Coulter says much of the area will have no problem regrowing naturally.
“We got some late rain at the end of the fire, and we were already seeing regrowth, green sprouting up while the fire was still going in areas that had burned and received some moisture and so seeing that regrowth already, it really just shows how resilient and how it will naturally recover in most areas.”
MORE NEWS: Denver Winter Storm: Blast Of Cold Arrives Late Tuesday, Snow Follows 24 Hours LaterCoulter says seeding efforts take about two weeks total and are expected to wrap up by the end of this week.
News Source: cbslocal.com
Tags: denver news pine gulch fire denver news the seeding the seeding
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Venomous spiders force temporary closure of University of Michigan library
The University of Michigan's campus library recently closed its doors — not because of the coronavirus pandemic, but because of the threat of venomous spiders.
University officials recently discovered Mediterranean recluse spiders in the basements and remote areas of "several" buildings on its Ann Arbor campus. Cousins to the more well-known brown recluse, they were found during routine building checks.
"Pest Management is treating the areas in the building where the spiders were found," university spokesperson Kim Broekhuizen told CBS News on Wednesday.
The spiders were found in the basement area of Shapiro Library, not in any public spaces. The library closed for two days as a result.
"As the name implies, they are reclusive and bites are extremely rare," associate professor Anne Danielson-Francois said in a statement. "Mediterranean recluse spiders prefer basement spaces, tunnels and other hideaways where there is a decrease in foot traffic."
"Users browsing the library stacks would be very unlikely to encounter a stray spider or be bitten," Danielson-Francois said.
An adult male Mediterranean recluse spider. UM-DearbornThere have been no other sightings in the library since. Now, the university is calling the library closure "a mistake."
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"A misunderstanding of the situation led the library to close for two days," Broekhuizen said. "Based on what we know now, library managers agree that it was a mistake to close the building and they apologize for the inconvenience to the university community."
The school said this week that the University of Michigan's Pest Management has been conducting weekly inspections of buildings and tunnels where the spiders were found.
"Building occupants affected by the spiders have been notified and have been asked to partner with the Pest Management team to safely clean out storage rooms, maintenance or mechanical rooms and custodial closets to combat the spiders," the school said.
It also advised safety precautions for anyone working in basement areas, including wearing a long-sleeved shirt, hat, gloves, and boots or shoes which enclose the entire foot, when handling stored items, cardboard boxes, lumber or rocks.