Production and Aerial Applicatin of Wood Shreds as a Post-Fire Hillscope Erosion Mitigation Treatment

Guidelines for the production and aerial application of wood shred mulch as a post-fire hillslope treatment were developed from laboratory and field studies, several field operations, and the evaluations of professionals involved in those operations. At two early trial sites, the wood shred mulch was produced off-site and transported to the area of use. At the 2010 Schultz Fire in Arizona, the wood mulches were produced on-site from burned hazard trees that were felled and skidded to a processing area where the logs were shredded by a horizontal grinder and piled. The subsequent aerial applications of the wood shreds were staged from the same landings where they were produced. At the 2010 Fourmile Canyon, 2012 High Park, and 2012 Waldo Canyon Fires in Colorado, wood shreds were produced from various combinations of on- and off-site burned and green trees that were generally shredded near the harvest or storage site.