Wyoming Timber Cut While Fighting 100,000-Acre Elk Fire Won’t Go To Waste

Wildfires typically force the clear-cutting of tons of timber to create wide enough breaks to stop destructive runs across the land.

During last year’s Elk Fire, for example, more than 6 tons of wood were cut to make fire breaks, including the big fire line that was created along Red Grade Road.

Typically, all of the wood that’s cut down during such a firefighting operation would be left to rot. At most, it might get chipped into mulch or even burned later, to reduce available fuel on the forest floor.

This time that’s not what’s going to happen. Instead of going to waste, the 6 tons of wood cut during the Elk Fire is going to be sold to a contractor in Buffalo.

It’s an incredible amount of wood, according to JL & Sons owner, Joe Landsiedel, who was the sole bidder for the product.