The work involves removing combustible material, like dead vegetation, that can pose a threat during a wildfire.
Crews will be at three properties: a roughly eight acre parcel near the Aerie water tank, three acres around the SOS trail close to Prospector and a separate three acre property around Rotary Park.
Some temporary trail or road closures may occur while crews are in those areas.
Park City Trails and Open Space Ranger Joe Sipe said crews will be cutting combustible materials down with saws and removing them. Woodchippers will also be used.
“We’ll do some cut and pile where we’ll actually cut material and then pile it up, and then come back in the fall or spring burning seasons and actually burn it to do a prescribed burn to kind of recreate the sense of natural wildfires,” Sipe said.
Sipe said the management practice is important because Park City lies within the wildland urban interface, which means conditions are conducive to large-scale wildfire that could pose a risk to human life and property.
“We have dense urban areas and then surrounding forests that back up to each other,” he said. “Trying to protect a lot of our assets — the ski resorts and then obviously everyone’s home community. We’re really trying to protect that and make a more resilient forest, in case something does happen, we have a little protection against fires in the future.”
Crews will be working from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are scheduled to finish on August 8.
Click here to sign up for notifications about wildfire mitigation and forest health projects.
Park City Municipal is a financial supporter of KPCW.
Maps of the work areas:
