Mary’s Lake Forest Health Project Update: Van Wert PaRcel Complete

The Mary’s Lake Forest Health Project was initiated and designed by EVWC–with support from Colorado State Forest Service and Northern Water–to provide support to landowners to address the dangers of wildfire in this high-risk area, and to help protect the Mary’s Lake water supply. 

A finished area of the Van Wert property showing extensive limbing of Ponderosa pines to reduce fire danger.

The Mary’s Lake Forest Health Project has completed extensive wildfire mitigation efforts on a 10-acre parcel owned by longtime seasonal resident David Van Wert. This property is home to a major stand of Aspen trees, which are important to conserve due to their high capacity for supporting biodiversity and the many other vital ecosystem services they provide, including carbon sequestration in the soil and revegetation after fires or other disasters.

Van Wert’s family have owned this parcel since the early 1960s, when his parents bought it shortly after being hired at the University of Northern Colorado down in Greeley. They’ve spent summers here since the early 1980s, doing their best to keep up with it over the decades as it grew from 2.5 acres to 10. Steep terrain and a few natural setbacks over the years have proven increasingly challenging. 

The 2013 floods wrought havoc throughout the property. An insect plague not long afterward led to David cutting down and hauling away over 300 infected trees. Prior to his mitigation efforts, some insurance companies had refused to even give him a quote, given the overgrown condition of his property.

David isn’t able to do that kind of work anymore, so he’s grateful for all the logistical help provided by this project, and by EVWC in particular. EVWC vetted and hired both the assessing forester, who marked the trees for removal, and the cutting team, who felled and removed the marked trees. When Van Wert considers the future, and his ongoing desire to nurture his part of a healthy forest, he says that Wilynn’s support, in particular, has been “Like a dream come true.”

Written By: Jenny Forrester, EVWC volunteer