Zone 3 Defensible Space

This zone is of no specified size. It extends from the edge of your defensible space to your property lines. In this area, landowners are encouraged to manage forests in a more traditional manner. Typical management objectives for areas surrounding homesites, or subdivisions, are: provide optimum recreational opportunities; enhance aesthetics; maintain tree health and vigor; provide barriers for wind, noise, dust and visual intrusions; support limited production of firewood, fence posts and other forest commodities; or grow Christmas trees or trees for transplanting.

Specific thinning requirements will be dictated by your objectives for the land. However, most thinning will be done from below (leaving the biggest and best trees) and on an individual tree basis.

Quick Facts:

 
Wildfire will find the weakest links in the defense measure you have taken on your property.

The primary determinants of a home's ability to survive wildfire are its roofing material and the quality of "defensible space" surrounding it.

Even small steps to protect your home and property will make them more able to withstand fire.

Consider these measures for all areas of your property, not just the immediate vicinity of the house.

    
 

Thinnings sanitize and improve the forest stand by removing trees that are damaged, attacked by insects, infected by disease, or are of poor form of low vigor.

Tree spacing usually depends on the species being managed and factors such as susceptibility to windthrow or damage from heavy snow loading. For ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, a good rule of thumb for stem spacing is the diameter of the of the tree, plus seven feet (diameter +7). For lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce, the stem spacing guide is diameter +5. Measure the diameter in inches at about 4 1/2 feet above the ground. Substitute feet for inches and add it to the space guide number  for the proper species. For example, if the average tree to be left following your thinning was an 8-INCH ponderosa pine, then use the formula 8 + 7 = 15, for a spacing of 15 feet between trees as measured between tree stems. (See crown spacing figure on Zone 2 page). 

A greater number of wildlife trees can remain in Zone 3. Make sure that dead trees pose no threat to power lines or fire-access roads.

While pruning generally is not necessary in Zone 3, it may be a good idea from the standpoint of personal safety to prune trees along trails and fire-access roads. Or if you prefer the aesthetics of a well-manicured forest, you might prune the entire area. In any case, pruning helps reduce ladder fuels within the tree stand, thus enhancing wildfire safety.

Mowing is not necessary in Zone 3.

Any approved method of slash treatment is acceptable for this zone, including piling and burning, chipping or lop-and-scatter.