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The environment desk at Aspen Public Radio covers issues in the Roaring Fork Valley and throughout the state of Colorado including water use and quality, impact of recreation, population growth and oil and gas development. APR’s Environment Reporter is Elizabeth Stewart-Severy.

Forest Service taking comment on Fryingpan timber project

Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service

The U.S. Forest Service will hold a public meeting tonight to gather feedback about a plan to cut back trees in the upper Fryingpan.

 

The Forest Service said the aging forest could be particularly vulnerable to insect epidemics, drought and wildfire — which proved true when about 350 acres in this area burned in the Freeman Fire in October.

Credit Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service
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Courtesy of U.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service plans to thin the forest in the Upper Fryingpan Valley.

The agency is proposing selective cutting on about 2,000 acres to encourage growth of younger trees, which leads to a healthier, more diverse forest. The plan said the vegetation work may also improve snowshoe hare and lynx habitat.

The public can learn more and provide feedback from 6 to 7:30 p.m. tonight at Basalt Town Hall.

Aspen native Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is excited to be making a return to both the Red Brick, where she attended kindergarten, and the field of journalism. She has spent her entire life playing in the mountains and rivers around Aspen, and is thrilled to be reporting about all things environmental in this special place. She attended the University of Colorado with a Boettcher Scholarship, and graduated as the top student from the School of Journalism in 2006. Her lifelong love of hockey lead to a stint working for the Colorado Avalanche, and she still plays in local leagues and coaches the Aspen Junior Hockey U-19 girls.
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