CONTRIBUTED CONTENT: The heat is on!

As I sit down to write this week’s article, a lot of fragmented thoughts and topics are rolling through my mind.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of standing with Chris Brookshire, one of our Grace Tree Service arborists, at the Sundance Fire Lookout tower as he shared his adventures from 20 years fighting wildland fire for the Idaho Department of Lands. Far below to the west, we could see boats cutting the cool waters of Priest Lake as they left from Cavanaugh’s Resort and Clipper Marina. He showed me a small memorial tucked into the subalpine fir trees marking the location of a lightning strike that started the August 1967 Sundance fire and remembering two firefighters who lost their lives fighting it. In the end, the fire claimed 56,000 acres

While looking forward to our 250-year Independence Day festivities, the current headlines ranging from below-normal snowpack, recent wind-driven fires, crackdown on illegal fireworks and new Kootenai County evacuation zone map has me more ... nervously alert, I guess?

While we are not dealing with overly hot temperatures yet, the Glenn Frey song “The Heat is On” from the "Beverly Hills Cop" movie keeps looping in my head. The next three months for us here in the Panhandle could become a very nerve-wracking and anxious time. There are a lot more folks like me, living in wooded areas that become extremely dry each summer.

Obviously, defensible space around your home is critical to those of us living where we do. I know folks like to keep crowded tree patches for privacy, but proper spacing and removal of ladder fuels (low dead limbs) can make a difference on defending your home from fire. Additionally, I suggest making a plan should wildfire break out. Don’t wait to figure out how and where to move livestock and pets. God forbid something happens, have a plan and a bag of overnight essentials and critical paperwork. Know your neighbors and how you might help each other out.

As for those in town, your newly spring-planted trees will need more water as temperatures increase. A cheap moisture meter can easily tell you if they are getting enough, and beauty bark or wood chips on top of the root ball can make the difference between a surviving tree and a thriving tree. We at Grace Tree Service will have discontinued most planting jobs until weather permits. That’s usually sometime in September.

I really hate weighing in on the fireworks issue as a proud American glad to be a witness to our nation’s 250 birthday, but I will not be creating any sparkles, booms or colorful streaks across the sky at our home. I want to awaken July 5 to the color of green trees!

For further tree-related questions, quotes or consultations, give us a call today, 208-762-5800!

For more information on Grace Tree Service, check out our website at gracetreeservice.com.