Berthoud Weekly Surveyor is on Facebook
YOUR TOWN, LOVE BERTHOUD
“Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot ... where good things grow” www.berthoudsurveyor.com Thursday, August 30, 2012 © Berthoud, Colorado Surveyor Survey Go to www.berthoudsurveyor.com and give us your opinion.
Should Todd Akin have dropped out of the Senate race in Missouri after his “legitimate rape” comment? Yes No
Town of Berthoud offices and Larimer County offices will be closed for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, Sept. 3.
Last week’s survey How do you feel about V P Joe Biden’s comment, “They’re (Romney/Ryan) going to put y’all back in chains.” Agree 96.6% Disagree 2.6%
Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/BerthoudSurvey
Volume 9, Number 35
Look inside for the Surveyor’s 1st issue of Wheels featuring classic cars sent in by Berthoud readers. On page 6 is Berthoud Tails, our periodic pet page. We welcome your photos of cars and pets, please send them to editor@berthoudsurveyor.com for our next editions.
Politics as usual .09%
Trees in burn area at high risk for mountain pine beetles By Kathleen Donnelly The Surveyor Forests already stressed by the infestation of the mountain pine beetle (MPB), could now be at a higher risk after the Colorado wildfires. While many property owners treat the trees for MPB, there has been no research done on how those treatments will withstand the damage from fires. “We are not aware of any studies that have looked at the impacts of heat, smoke or fire on chemical preventative products for mountain pine beetles,” said Sky Stephens, forest entomologist for the Colorado State Forest Service. “But most chemicals degrade faster when exposed to heat. We are recommending that people treat their trees again, especially if the trees are scorched, because we don’t know how the products used for treatment will hold up after the fire. There are a number of studies being launched by researchers to look at questions such as these in the High Park burn area. It’s a unique environment to be able to study, especially with looking at the pine beetle and fire.” There are two main types of products that property owners can use on their trees — chemical sprays and pheromones. These products are the two most commonly used throughout Western North America. While both have proven effective, there are no products that can help save trees already infested with the MPB. “The chemical sprays are contact sprays that are applied to trees with a high pressure sprayer,” said Stephens. “The pheromones are packets that hang off the tree and emit a signal to the beetles that the tree is full and there is not enough food. It basically mimics a no vacancy signal to the
beetles.” Stephens stressed the importance of applying these products to healthy trees, but even more so, to trees scorched in the fire. “We’ll probably see spikes in pine beetle activity on the perimeter of the fire, and the beetles will find those chunks of forest that weren’t burned within the burn area,” said Stephens. “Trees that were scorched on one side of the trunk and have mild to moderate stress because of this could see a higher infestation of beetles. It’s similar to why students on campus all come down with colds after exams — they’ve had no sleep and are stressed. The trees are stressed and therefore are more susceptible.” The best treatment option for noninfested singed trees is the pheromone packets attached to the trees. This is because the spray may not properly adhere to charred bark. “The window of opportunity to apply or reapply preventative products this summer is rapidly closing,” said Stephens. According to Stephens the cost of the products varies by location. For this reason she recommends contacting the Colorado State Forest Service for more information. “We are part of the College of Natural Resources and are here to support private land owners,” said Stephens. “We have 17 offices across the state so it’s best to talk to your local office because, for example, the needs of a landowner in Durango are very different from a landowner in the High Park area.” For further information on the MPB or the Colorado State Forest Service, visit: http://csfs.colostate.edu. or call 970-491-6303.
Photo by Eric Weedin
President Barack Obama visited the Colorado State University campus on Tuesday afternoon and according to CSU officials it was the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited the campus. The president told the students that they have a bigger stake than anybody in this year’s presidential election — and the power to help determine its outcome. The president will be back in Colorado this weekend, when he is scheduled to speak Sunday in Boulder.
Andrew McNulty receives sheriff’s commendation Special to the Surveyor Berthoud resident Andrew McNulty has been awarded a Larimer County Sheriff’s office commendation by Sheriff Justin Smith for his actions in assisting a lost resident. On June 1, 2012, the Larimer County Sheriff’s office was notified by McNulty, who was hiking on Storm Mountain, that he heard a woman screaming for help. The woman, a lost resident, had originally been able to contact Loveland Police but shortly
Wastewater fix By Rudy Hemmann The Surveyor
The Berthoud Board of Trustees held a regular business meeting Tuesday evening. The trustees heard an emergency request for funds to replace a centrifuge that had failed at the wastewater treatment plant. The request was made by Engineer Stephanie Brothers and Town Administrator Mike Hart. Hart pointed out that through a recent bond refinance the town netted $2 million slated for much needed capital improvements at the wastewater treatment plant. An information sheet furnished by town staff states “With the refinancing complete and the funding available, our plan was to begin the engineering this fall
thereafter lost cell reception. Mr. McNulty remained on scene providing directions for search and rescue personnel for over two and a half hours and communicating with the lost woman and convincing her to remain where she was as help was on the way. Subsequently the woman was found and returned home. Sheriff Justin Smith said, “Mr. McNulty is to be commended for his selflessness in willing to spend so much time in assisting a total stranger.”
and budget for the improvements in the 2013 adopted budget. The failure of the centrifuge forced the town to begin hauling “raw product” from the facility by the truckload so that it did not end up in the Little Thompson River. Following consultations with town staff, wastewater facility personnel and the town’s consultants, JVA Consultants, Hart moved the timeline for replacement of the centrifuge forward several months. Brothers stated she hoped to have a new centrifuge in place and the plant back to full operation in four to eight weeks. In the meantime the town will be paying to have two to three truckloads per week of product removed from the treatment facility. A $10,000 budget line item will be used to cover costs associated with the hauling. Hart estimated this budget item
Courtesy photo
Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith congratulates Andrew for receiving the award.
would be approximately $200 short of covering the full cost. Following board discussion a motion to approve a resolution for a supplemental budget resolution and authorizing the mayor to enter into an operating agreement with JVA Consultants was made, seconded and unanimously approved. The trustees heard a positive report from the town’s business development manager, Ron Schneider, regarding efforts by Berthoud Area Chamber of Commerce (BACC) board members to hire a new executive director. Schneider briefly described the process used to winnow 40 candidates down to the final selection. Hart suggested the board approve a scenario under which “The town will contract with the individual TOWN cont. on page 2
New county manager visits Berthoud Photo by Kathleen Donnelly
A stand of trees in Rocky Mountain National Park with typical pine beetle infestation.
Look who’s in the news! Sammie Villarreal Zoey Prefontaine
Navajo Heidi Kerr-Schlaefer Socks
Community Calendar.................. 9 Classified.................................... 9 Crossword/Sudoku...................... 7 Legal notices............................... 9 Opinion....................................... 4 Then & Now................................ 5 Weather...................................... 2
By Rudy Hemmann The Surveyor On Wednesday, Aug. 22, Larimer County Commissioner Tom Donnelly held his regular monthly citizen information meeting in Berthoud. Donnelly introduced recently appointed County Manager, Linda Hoffmann, to those in attendance. Hoffmann briefly related her background as having been employed in the private sector with a civil engineering firm before coming to the county four years ago as director of planning. She stated she would not recommend taking on a position as important as county manager 10 days prior to a major wildland fire breaking out. Hoffmann was referring to the High Park Fire which raged northwest of Fort Collins through much of June and July, burning nearly 87,000 acres and causing one death. She said the county has good systems and intergovernmental agreements in place to deal with
responses to disasters such as the High Park fire. “The state and feds (federal government) show up with buckets of money” to help defray the expense of fighting the fire. She went on to state, “Because we don’t have the order of magnitude of damage ... we don’t have those same types of systems in place to deal with recovery efforts.” According to Hoffmann the federal government has decided the fire disaster near Fort Collins, even when coupled with the Waldo Canyon Fire in the Colorado Springs area, is not big enough to offer any type of assistance to individuals who were affected. She also stated the federal government is still deciding whether they will offer any public assistance grants. She pointed out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) guidelines do not work well for the types of emergencies which occurred in Colorado. “They are accustomed to it being a hurricane, flood or a tornado where
things are swept of the face of the earth; they can take a picture of the foundation that remains to document the damage. Our damage isn’t like that. Our damage is, the forest is gone. The watershed is very damaged, and there will be massive run-off from even minor rain storms that occur,” said Hoffmann. She noted much of the road and highway infrastructure, such as culverts and drainage ditches, will be inadequate to deal with the increased run-off, and roads and highways may be flooded as a result. Her estimate of the cost to accomplish emergency watershed protection ranged from $10 million to $20 million. She stated the county will be dealing with watershed issues for the next several years. Hoffmann had praise for the outpouring of support from the community and from the non-profits in the community. She stated much of the assis-
DONNELLY cont. on page 2