Roz Land

I kind of feel like God today....by that I mean, I have been traipsing around in the forest today at Lone Star Ranch deciding which trees stay and which trees get taken out.  Tying on a piece of orange tape means it stays --- no tape means it goes.  Which is kind of sad, really.  I mean, we came to the mountain for the views and fresh air, and cooler climate and TREES!

Environmentalists would not like what we are doing....I don't think. Maybe they would.  But here's the deal. On our 10 acres of land, there were LOTS of fallen, dead and diseased trees and stumps.  So many that you could not even drive a 6-wheeler Polaris thru most of it.  Lots of scrubby underbrush, and fallen limbs.  In order to comply with the FireWise Community regulations, which uses a formula to decide how far apart tree tops must be to avoid forest fires leaping from tree to tree, our land needed to be thinned.  Not only has it made our property more "open" and created bigger views of the mountains around us, but it has made it safer and less of a fire hazard. 

But I did feel bad walking from tree to tree thinking, "Ok, you can live, and you have to die."  I caught myself feeling sorry for the trees and attaching human emotions to them, as if they were saying "Hey Roz! Save me! Save me! I don't want to get crunched up!"  So, looking across the property right now, there is a sea of orange tape fluttering in the wind.  Henry tried talking me out of saving some of them, but I stood pretty firm. 

And another plus, is the Cimarron Watershed Commission who funds this whole thing (yes, it's free to us) has even offered to go in and seed the whole lot with high altitude grass seed mixed with some wildflowers.  That will pretty it up even more.  THey also told us that turning the soil will expedite the natural process of decay and is good for the soil.

The attached photo is the monster machine that is going thru and crunching up the dead stuff...I mean, it evens pulverizes boulders and big stumps like it is nothing.  I guess if I were a baby tree looking at that thing coming for me, I would be shaking down to my roots. 

It's the biggest Rototiller I have ever seen!  Henry was just itching to climb up there and drive the thing!  I tend to steer clear of anything that has tires that are taller than I am!

All I can say is..."Sorry little trees!" 

To Tree or Not to Tree....THAT IS THE QUESTION!