Check out YFR’s newest acquisition, a Bandit track chipper! We have decided to name it Homer, after the green hungry hungry hippo (yes, they have names 🤣).
Homer will allow us to process material in areas where a conventional tow-behind chipper cannot access, and also chip material over 20” in diameter. Some exciting features are the track-driven CAT undercarriage and a 173 horsepower John Deere Diesel motor. It also has a hydraulic winch that can pull entire trees right to the feedwheels, saving on labor costs.
℞ Prescribed Fire: Lower Colfax Firewise Community
YFR Tree & Land Management participated in a Lower Colfax Firewise Community (LCFC) prescribed fire. This burn was organized by property owner, Matt Miller, with Registered Professional Forester and prescribed fire, Dario Davidson. Dario is a key member of the Yuba Bear Burn Cooperative, whose mission is to empower private landowners through education to safely and legally practice good fire.
Mastication: a cost-effective treatment for reducing fuels on a larger scale
Folks in the region are beginning to understand the concept of “fuels” and what it means to manage your property to keep fuels at a healthy level. Without the natural component of fire in the Sierra Nevada, the amount of vegetation growing on our properties can quickly reach an almost unmanageable level. Excess vegetation means more fuel for a fire, and the more fuel the more intense the fire will burn.
If you want to have brush removed and thinning done on your property, mastication may be the most cost-effective treatment option.
What is Mastication?
Also known as “forestry mulching”, mastication is a method of vegetation management that is generally completed with a skid-steer (think “bobcat” on tracks) or excavator machine. A special attachment is able to mulch down smaller trees and brush leaving finer debris similar to what would come from a chipper. This helps to reduce fuels in overgrown forests and is often the most cost-effective treatment option for larger areas.
Our Takeuchi TL-12 masticator on a project in Grass Valley, CA
Benefits of masticating property:
Fuels reduction. Reducing ladder fuels helps to moderate fire behavior and helps reduce risk to structures.
Less severe fire behavior can provide an opportunity for first responders to access the fire safely
Often the remaining tress are “limbed up” as part of this service, which creates separation of the ground fuels from the tree canopy. This further reduces the risk of a damaging crown fire
By reducing unfavorable brush and smaller trees, the remaining trees will enjoy reduced competition for light and water
Improved watershed function-more water available to remaining trees and increased runoff. Studies have linked forest thinning to increased water availability.
Remaining trees will grow with more vigor and also be more resilient to fire, drought, and beetle outbreaks.
Many find that they are able to enjoy their property like they couldn’t before. The resulting “park like setting” allows increased opportunities of viewing wildlife and much easier walking on the property.
A property we masticated in Nevada City near Deer Creek
Forest stewardship is the key to managing fire risk on your property and protecting it into the future
Fire is a natural component of the Sierra Nevada, and has been shaping these forests for a long time. Many tree species have adapted to fire with thick, fire-resistant bark and foliage. We know that local native people benefited from utilizing fire regularly to manage forests. Historically, frequent low-severity fires helped lessen forest fuel loads and reduce the amount of smaller trees and seedlings. Nowadays, climate change plus over a century of fire suppression has given way to forests that contain hazardous levels of vegetation and are very susceptible to drought, insects, and disease.