Markit! Forestry Management ("Markit! Forestry") has completed a complex and highly technical steep slope forestry project for the Crystal Park Homeowners Association in El Paso County, near Manitou Springs, Colorado. Fire mitigation and forest restoration work was completed on slopes with grades of up to 65% at elevations ranging from 7,400 to 8,200 feet. Crystal Park is a gated community and is accessed via Crystal Park Road out of Manitou Springs, Colorado. The Crystal Park Homeowners Association's primary goal for the forestry project was to decrease hazardous fuels and reduce the fire threat to traffic along the Park’s single ingress and egress road. The catastrophic Waldo Canyon fire in 2012 in adjacent areas of El Paso County highlighted the need to allow safe access to residential neighborhoods for firefighters and other responders in the event of a wildland fire. Additional goals of the project included the improvement of forest health within the project areas, increasing the forest's resistance to insects and disease, and enhancing forest survivability in the event of wildfire. The total steep slope area treated by Markit! Forestry was approximately 27 acres.
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