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North Central Solid Waste Authority to provide dumpsters for Memorial Day Weekend for pine needles and small brush for Brazos Cliff residences. The containers will be located across from the Cliffview Restaurant at 700 SR 512, just east of the regular dumpster. + + + + + Board Member Jeff Harris has set up an email address for members having questions, suggestions, etc., about our roads in the Upper Brazos. Suggestions can cover, but not limited to, maintenance, access, wash outs, clogged culverts, etc. All are incouraged to submit information to help the board make positive road decisions. Remember, your contribution to the UBPOA Road Fund will help make our roads better for all of us. Please submitt to brazosroads@yahoo.com |
Cliffview Restaurant (New Owners) is now open for lunch and dinner on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The menu will be posted outside . Closed for the winter. Presidents Message December 11, 2011 The Upper Brazos Property Owners Association (UBPOA) is a non-profit entity established for the sole purpose of helping the residents of the Brazos Canyon area to enjoy the beauty, wildlife and community that is truly a refuge in the wilderness. We recognize that no surroundings can be enjoyable and safe without the hard work of others to promote these conditions and work in harmony with the environment. The Board of Directors affirm the following goals: Goal #1 ; Preserve the beauty and sanctuary of Brazos Canyon for both people and wildlife. In closing, I draw your attention to the other sections of our website. In particular, the UBPOA wants to encourage your membership in our Association, as the best way to remain informed of valuable information in our community. If you would like information about our Association and/or about the Brazos area, please refer to the contacts on the website. President Garbage Collection Bin: Special Note: The North Central Solid Waste Authority has returned the dumpster to its location in front of Cliffview Restaurant. The Solid Waste Authority will monitor the type of waste that is deposited. If they determine that there is any misuse of the dumpster in the future, the dumpster will be locked. Only current paid customers in the Upper Brazos will be issued keys or combinations to the lock(s) from them by mail. Speed Limit:  The State of New Mexico has paved HWY 512 all the way to Corkins Lodge. However , the posted speed limit upon entering the Upper Brazos is still 15 mph. Please adhere to this speed, minimize the dust and protect the children and animals in the area. Cabin Watch Signs
Cabin Watch Signs are now available to UBPOA members. Contact a board member for your area sign.
All members are encouraged to attend board meetings. See Senate Bill SB0252 46K .pdf Fire Triangles Forester's Log: Fire Triangles @Mary Stuever, January 2006 The Forester’s Log is a syndicated monthly column published in newspapers and magazines primarily in the American west. Mary Stuever is the Burn Area Emergency Rehabilitation Coordinator for the White Mountain Apache Tribe. This winter wildland fires are regular stories on the evening news. Texas. Oklahoma. Colorado. New Mexico. California. Places that do not usually have a severe winter fire season. Generally firefighters dedicate the first few months of the year to training, learning new skills and reviewing basics. With this recent dry weather, the tenor of these workshops is sobering. Firefighters throughout the Southwest are concerned about the coming fire season, and hopefully homeowners are as serious about preparing as well.
When thinking about fire, triangles become a useful shape. Firefighters generally review two major triangles. The standard fire triangle consists of three necessary components to have a fire: heat, oxygen, and fuel. Remove any of these legs of the triangle, and the fire will go out. Although structural firefighters use water to cool and smother the flames, wildland firefighters generally attempt to remove fuel through the construction of fire lines and back burns. Wildland firefighters refer to the fire behavior triangle (weather, topography, and fuels) to describe factors that affect how fires burn on the landscape. As with the fire triangle, the easiest leg to influence is the fuels. Forest managers are keenly aware that areas that have recently been thinned or burned are less likely to sustain long-term damage from wildfires in extreme conditions. I propose a third important triangle for understanding today’s fires, and this one I call the fire disaster triangle. The three legs include excessive fuel accumulations, prolonged drought conditions, and increased construction of homes and businesses in fire-prone forests and woodlands. In the past century, the spread of fires throughout the landscape was significantly reduced. In the absence of regular, light intensity burning, both live and dead fuels have reached unprecedented levels. Meanwhile, in the last decade we have been experiencing one of the worst droughts in the past 500 years. However for about half a century before this drought we were in one of the wettest periods of the last few millennia. Under this wet regime and even continuing into this drought, the number of buildings in fire-prone forests has exploded, with miles of extensive communities and subdivisions spreading through what were once regularly burning wildlands. As with the other triangles, the vulnerable leg where we can take action to mitigate the fire impact is the fuels. The people who are in the best position to save homes from burning this summer are not firefighters but homeowners who start taking action now. The key to preparing for the fire season is to think about your home environment in terms of fuel. Obviously the construction materials of buildings define protection or vulnerability. Metal roofs, stucco siding, and rock foundations are examples of building materials less likely to ignite, while wood shake shingles and siding are a clear invitation for disaster. For most homeowners though, the major efforts around the house include removing flammable vegetation near the home, closing in open decks and porches, clearing areas around propane tanks, and addressing each feature on the property as a fuel. Activities might include relocating wood piles away from homes, propane tanks, and power lines, clearing weeds away from outbuildings, thinning thick forests and undergrowth, and cleaning gutters and roofs of leaves and woody debris. Communities are more likely to survive, when these kinds of efforts are widespread. Recently I was sharing some concerns with fellow firefighters in my hometown of Placitas, New Mexico. We talked about the fire we fear most, which would be a wildfire moving through the village. Here homes are tightly packed by rural standards and surrounded by dense vegetation, especially sumac bushes and weeds. As we strategized our actions in such a scenario, we realized that like firefighters all over the west, we would have to pick and choose our battles. We would not be able to save every house and would have to put our energies where homeowners had already done their part to make their properties less fire prone. At least our village has multiple roads leading in and out that would make evacuations safer and allow for emergency equipment to come on scene faster. Although each community has unique features and concerns, most fire issues for communities surrounded by forests, woodlands and grasslands are similar. A national Firewise program (visit www.firewise.org) offers information and free materials for homeowners and community leaders. There are many examples to encourage homeowners to invest an afternoon or two now that might make a difference in whether their home burns or survives during this year’s wildfires. Something not known to many folks that use computers. As we get older, even some of the young folks, it gets harder to read the type on the computer monitors. So a good way to increase or decrease the size of the type on the monitor is as follows. If you have a mouse with a wheel. Most do.
Surprised? Enjoy. |
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