Objectives for Fuel Reduction in Stehekin Valley
- Reduce basal area (combined area of tree diameters in a plot) to 50 - 80
square ft/acre during the restoration phase.
- Reduce existing Douglas-fir poles (young trees) by 60 – 80%
- Reduce existing ponderosa poles by no more than 30%
- Maintain 50% of the existing ponderosa over-story trees
- Reduce the existing Douglas-fir over-story by 45 – 65%
- Maintain dead and downed fuels. Remove some by burning, but not all. Plants
and animals depend on woody debris for habitat and home.
- Begin maintenance burning of the units on a randomly rotating 7 to 15 year
cycle following completion of the restoration phase.