As described in an earlier post, the local crew from Terra Firma Forestry has been busy clearing the small dead standing trees out along Mirkwood Ridge.  The trees are not being removed but we are instead utilizing a lop and scatter technique.  This involves cutting the trees into smaller pieces and scattering them out on the forest floor.  This is much less disturbance to the ground vegetation than mechanical removal, removes ladder fuels, and helps to create improved pockets of wildlife habitat in this area.  Despite the widespread mortality we have seen with our large standing Engelmann Spruce trees, there is a significant amount of natural revegetation happening with a lot of green saplings starting their journey up through the forest canopy.  The Mirkwood Ridge area has always skied well and should be even better after these thinning efforts.