To help build a healthier forest, 125 acres of young, over-crowded Douglas fir trees in the 334-acre Danville-Georgetown Open Space near Ravensdale will be selectively thinned this year.

The thinning operation is scheduled to get under way Aug. 19, and it is expected to run through October on the portion of the site that is south of Summit-Landsburg Road Southeast. In order to protect public safety, trails will be closed to all access in this portion of the open space during the work.

The goal of the tree-removal work is to improve forest health and increase bio-diversity in this planted forest of 30-year-old Douglas fir.

The forest currently has little species or structural diversity, with low habitat value. Thinning trees increases the growth rate of the most desirable, large trees, and it increases the forest’s value as fish and wildlife habitat.

The remaining 35 acres in this stand of trees consists of wetlands and their buffers, riparian buffers, and logging access roads.

King County awarded thinning contract to Erickson Logging, Inc. of Gig Harbor. The harvest and sale of the trees will generate an estimated $193,000 that will help fund the ongoing management of this and other King County-owned forestland.

This thinning project implements recommendations from the site’s 2013 Forest Stewardship Plan. Recreation use proposals from that plan are currently under review. Read the draft plan at: http://www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/naturalresources/foreststewardship/danville.aspx.

For more information about the tree-thinning work, contact Bill Loeber, at 206-296-7821, or bill.loeber@kingcounty.gov; for general information about the Danville-Georgetown Open Space contact Duane Evans, 206-391-1932, or duane.evans@kingcounty.gov.