Major Tree Thinning to Occur at Woodland Park’s Doorstep
U.S. Forest Service
The Pikes Peak Ranger District on the Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands will implement the Rampart Reservoir Fuels Reduction Project in support of the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The managing agency is the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The project spans approximately 2,261 acres of National Forest System lands near Rampart Reservoir in El Paso County, close to Woodland Park. Mechanical thinning and other fuels’ reduction effort in the project area is expected to continue through the summer of 2026.
The goals of the project are to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfires, improve forest health, and protect watersheds and wildlife habitat by creating fuel breaks in strategic locations. Another important goal is to reduce mountain pine beetle and other insect infestations.
Mechanized thinning with heavy equipment will be used in this project. Thinning reduces the potential for fires to spread from the forest floor to treetops and then from tree to tree. Many of these areas will be treated with prescribed fire in the future to reduce surface fuels and help prevent high-intensity wildfire.
“This is a great opportunity to thin an extremely overcrowded area of our National Forest,” said Pikes Peak District Ranger Carl Bauer. “Mechanical thinning, in conjunction with prescribed fire, are effective tools for protecting comminutes, infrastructure and vital natural resources from the threat of high-severity wildfire.”
Larger logs will be hauled off site for lumber production while smaller logs will be masticated, a forest restoration technique that uses heavy machinery to chop, grind, and shred vegetation. The vegetation is then left on the forest floor to recycle nutrients as it composts. Expect additional truck traffic during log removal. For public safety, small areas of National Forest will not be accessible during operations.
For more information, contact Contract Administrator Mason Knuthson, (719) 636-1602, mason.knuthson@usda.
