Written by Sarah Bolton –
Hello Madera County Residents! Welcome to the second edition of the Tree Mortality Community Column.
Our company, Blue Ridge Services (BRS), is partnering with Madera County to oversee and implement their tree mortality mitigation project.
At this point, most of us who live in Madera County are very used to tree mortality. In the past, when you spotted a dead tree, your instinct was to stay away, to keep your eyes open, and avoid the potential danger. But now, a few years and a few million trees later, a dead tree is just another part of the
landscape.
It’s important that we continue to be vigilant when walking, standing, or working around dead trees. In fact, many of the trees that have been dead for several years are more dangerous than ever.
After a Ponderosa Pine has been dead for 3 to 4 years, the internal structure begins to fail. This is because wood rot usually occurs at the lower trunk and root system, which can cause a seemingly stable tree to fall without warning.
It’s very important that when you are out in wooded areas, parking your car, or going for a hike that you are aware of these hazard trees.
Signs like bark falling off, dark stained wood at the trunk, and visible cracks are all signs of a very dangerous tree. Keep your eyes open and avoid
these trees.
Madera County and BRS are working as quickly as possible to mitigate the risk and get through this dangerous time, but we are not out of the woods yet.
This week we have teams cutting trees on Roads 225 and 426. Tree cutting will begin within the next two weeks on Roads 600, 420, 423 and 800.
If you live in any of these areas and have questions about our crews, the overall project, or tree mortality in general, please reach out to us by phone at
209-966-7777 or by emailing info@blueridgeservices.com.
For project updates, visit our dedicated webpage: https://blueridgeservices.com/maderatreemortality or our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/maderatreemortality.
We look forward to partnering with the community of Madera County to tackle this very important project.
The BRS Team
