FLAGSTAFF — The Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project’s (FWPP) forest treatments across the project area are continuing as planned. Despite the recent default by the U.S. Forest Service’s contractor, in the Dry Lake Hills Phase I, the City and Forest Service are working together to ensure this operation is completed.
The contract to treat 642 acres of Dry Lake Hills Phase I will be reoffered by the USFS in the coming weeks with work expected to begin this summer and completion by the end of December 2018. Concurrently, the Dry Lake Hills Phase II contract will be offered late this spring and work is expected to start the summer of 2019 with an anticipated completion in 2021.
“FWPP is the only municipally-funded project of its kind in the country and is a model for other communities,” said City Manager Josh Copley. “The decision to support this program by the citizens of Flagstaff to protect against the threat posed by wildfires and post-fire flooding represents an extremely proactive investment in our community. The City and our partners remain committed and engaged to achieve project goals.”
Despite contractor non-performance in the Dry Lake Hills area, FWPP efforts in 2017 resulted in:
- Mechanical thinning on 384 acres on Observatory Mesa
- Hand thinning 75 acres on Observatory Mesa
- Broadcast burning of 225 acres of previously thinned area on Observatory Mesa
- Mechanical thinning of nearly 500 acres of state land in east Flagstaff
- Hand thinning 100 acres of federal lands at the base of Mt Elden
Since its inception, FWPP has treated 4,000-plus acres project-wide (of a projected 10,000 acres). The effort has secured an additional $4.9 million in non-city funding and over 12,000 citizen-volunteer service hours.
For more information about FWPP please contact Matt Millar, mmillar@flagstaffaz.gov or visit www.flagstaffwatershedprotection.org.