Over many years now we have imagined and discussed the possibility of a wildfire overrunning our community.  Firewise has provided recommendations on what actions can be taken to prepare your home and property to withstand a fire.  If you are unaware of the wildfire danger here or what Firewise is, please Google “Firewise USA”.   Many members of our community have said they understand the need and know what needs to be done, but the work is beyond their ability to perform.

Washington State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has offered our Colony Mountain Community a grant to pay for cutting and removing of fire fuels from within 100’ of your home. This includes dense ground vegetation like blackberries, dead branches and other fuels on the forest floor, trees under 8” in diameter, limbs within 10’ of the ground, etc.  All of this back breaking work done for you and all you would be responsible for paying is the sales tax on the work.

I just received the proposal this morning (and I have not read the entire document yet), but here is the most important point:  All work needs to be completed by July 2025, which isn’t much time.

At this point, I just need to know who is interested in participating in the project.

I know there will be plenty of questions, as I have many myself.  There will be a time to answer questions once we get an idea of how many folks are interested.  Once we know this, we can have a meeting with a DNR official and get our questions answered.  I do know this — you have control of your property and they will not just start cutting down trees willy-nilly.  A DNR forester will come out and mark trees to be removed with your consultation.

Please reach out to me directly @ england@valleyint.com by February 14 if you are interested.  It would be helpful if you type ‘Grant Opportunity’ in the subject line and provide the following information: 

• Name
• Email address
• Lot #
• Phone #

Thank you.

Chris England

Lot 39

360-391-0817