Extell Development Company has continued its fuels reduction program this season at Deer Valley’s East Village, a multi-year effort designed to reduce wildfire risk while improving long-term forest health.
The project, which began three years ago, so far has treated 75 acres of land and created nearly 52 miles of fire breaks, with more acreage scheduled for work this year.
Evan Conley, project manager for Extell, said the project started with the company’s goal of balancing infrastructure protection with ecological restoration.
“One of the reasons it started is the owner of the property. He looked up here and said, ‘Why are some of the aspen patches not as thick as others?’” Conley said. “We brought in experts to help us figure out, ‘Hey, what is this balance of what we want to do?’”
Utah Department of Natural Resources Forester P.J. Abrams assessed which areas of the forest required intervention, identifying where Extell could accomplish multiple goals in one go.
“He did some evaluations of different pockets of forest that needed an improvement from the health standpoint, and then coupling that, this is a great opportunity to create some of those fire breaks,” Conley explained.
The two main ways a fire could start at the resort would be a spark off U.S. 40, as well as a possible blaze in the nearby state park, Conley said. In these areas, fuel reduction would decrease the risk of a fire and improve firefighters’ ability to fight a blaze.
That’s why the project became partner-oriented, Conley said. Fire officials were brought in alongside foresters to assess how to best manage the property. They got a “wish list” from Wasatch County Fire District Chief Eric Hales and began working through some of those asks.
Wildfire Mitigation Specialist Asher Smith from Apex Fire Preparedness worked to clear trees and undergrowth to establish more fire breaks and forest resilience at Deer Valley East Village. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record 
From left, Michiel Van Tichelen and Asher Smith, both wildfire mitigation specialists with Apex Fire Preparedness, work to cut and remove dead trees from steep sections at Deer Valley East Village. Credit: David Jackson/Park Record
Crews have relied on a mix of heavy machinery and manual labor to thin vegetation, Conley said, determined by the slope and access of treatment areas. In some cases, operators used a robotically controlled machine that cuts and grinds smaller fuels like scrub oak. In others, contracted hand crews from groups such as Apex Fire Preparedness have cut and pile excess brush and trees, which will be burned in the fall and spring.
“We’re hoping to be able to continue that pace on a year-by-year standpoint,” Conley said. “But that comes out to a pretty significant financial commitment. So it’s all as long as we can keep showing him (Gary Barnett) that this is great, not just from a fire standpoint, but from a forest health standpoint as well.”
This type of forest management and disturbance does help revitalize forests that otherwise rely on wildfire, Conley explained.
“What I think a lot of people don’t understand is that fire is so important for these ecosystems because it’s what cycles them through their growth,” he said.
In a press release, Hales expressed a similar perspective: That fuel reduction allows people to restore balance.
“Many landscapes have evolved with fire, but decades of suppression have allowed dangerous accumulations,” he said. “This work is to mimic natural processes and make communities safer.”
Conley pointed out areas where their efforts had thinned forests, juxtaposed by nearby areas choked with brush, small trees and low tree limbs.
“This is gorgeous when it turns the fall colors. But from a fire standpoint, this is what you don’t want to see, where there’s all these different levels of fuels — canopies touching, you have the low burning fuels up to the ladder fuels,” Conley said.
For the project team, the primary goal remains protection of lodges, homes, ski lifts, snowmaking equipment, and water storage tanks. The work is designed to create a “mosaic forest” where breaks in tree canopy and vegetation can slow the spread of flames.
This thinning also encourages new growth. Soil disturbance caused by equipment helps seeds establish, while removing competing species gives native aspens, Douglas firs and maples a better chance to take hold.
In one 24-acre section, Scott “Petey” Peterson, Extell’s project manager for construction, pointed out a swath of 100-year-old aspen trees.
“If you look at the forest floor, almost all the green stuff that’s poking up down there are new aspen starts,” Peterson said.
That was one of the first areas they treated, aiming to revitalize the critical species in the area. When they first cleared the excess vegetation last summer, the hillside seemed almost barren, Peterson said. But now, seeing the rapid recovery of the trees, it’s one of their clearest examples of how effective this work can be.
The work requires regular upkeep, which is why Extell established a dedicated foundation to fund mitigation efforts, with money earmarked for the next 20 years, Peterson said.
“It’s probably, in reality, somewhere between 15 and 20 years of being able to go through all the forest areas,” Peterson said. “In the meantime, the goal is to be going back and doing maintenance within three years of the critical areas.”
Hales said this strategy of intentional, planned fuels reduction, is essentially “stewardship in action.”
“Fire is inevitable,” he said. “The question is whether we let it shape us through catastrophe, or whether we shape it through stewardship.”
Conley said the project team hopes their work inspires others in the region to undertake similar efforts, and said that it’s personally been a source of pride.
“It’s little projects like this forestry one that really help keep the soul of what you’re doing at work,” Conley said. “You’re not taking care of a forest to make money, you’re taking care of the forest because it’s the right thing to do. So an opportunity to do that as a couple people that are frequent outdoorsmen, it’s nice to be able to take care of the land that gives us so much.”