We live in the Siskiyou mountains of rural Southern Oregon on a forested property with a diverse mix of hardwood and softwood tree species. Wildfires have become more prevalent and intense, especially in the forests and brushlands of the West. Fire is a natural and healthy component of our forest ecosystem, yet the key to living with fire is managing the “fuel load,” or density of vegetation including live or dead trees and brush. One of the primary methods used to reduce fuels and lessen the intensity of wildfires is to cut the smaller trees and brush as well as low hanging branches that could otherwise become a fire “ladder,” which can bring a low intensity ground fire up into the canopy. The wood is then burned or chipped to give the larger, more fire resilient trees, a better chance of survival. The live-edged wood used in our magnets is harvested by hand on our property as part of our own fuels-reduction work.
During the thinning process.