The White River National Forest plans to thin areas of forest that were cut 20-30 years ago to maintain the effectiveness of those treatments, and the U.S. Forest Service will host an informational session about those plans June 17.

The open house meeting will go from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Dillon Ranger District office in Silverthorne. The Forest Service plans to thin trees in treatment units near Red Tail Ranch, Farmer’s Corner and Swan Mountain Road over the next two years, according to a news release. No more than 1,000 acres would be thinned each year, it stated.

A 2021 fuel management plan outlines the White River National Forest’s intention to maintain the decades-old fuel treatments, which include critical fuel breaks, the release stated. It allows up to 10,000 acres of National Forest land to be thinned through 2036, and to date, the White River National Forest has thinned 1,360 acres under the plan.

Areas with lodgepole pine treated in response to the mountain pine beetle outbreak in the 2000s have regenerated with dense, young lodgepoles, according to the release, and thinning those areas will “reduce competition and promote individual tree growth to improve forest health.”

Another meeting June 16 in Eagle County will discuss similar plans for treatment areas there.