News - Local
Man questions Stratton fire prevention measures
Posted: Mar 31, 2011 6:00 PM by Bill Folsom
Updated: Mar 31, 2011 8:08 PM
Mitigation work going on at the Stratton Open Space on Colorado Springs southwest side is raising questions about fire danger. Rick Bergles who hikes and bikes in the park several times a week says the cutting is a "tremendous number of mature green trees and a tremendous amount of both living and dead brush cut, stacked along culverts stacked along trails". He thinks it is devastating to the park and calls the cuttings that are stacked to block unplanned trails "fire freeways".
"Primarily we're trying to mitigate the fire risk" says, Colorado Springs Parks Maintenance Manager, Kurt Schroeder, "the second thing you'll see is efforts to close all social trails that crisscross through the property." He says Parks has consulted with fire department on the thinning to reduce fire danger. Leaving the heavy cover over trails is necessary because people ignore requests to stay out of areas they're trying to re-grow to prevent erosion in the park.
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