MALDEN, Wash. — The disaster relief nonprofit, Team Rubicon, is in Malden this week to cut down and clear away about 1,000 dead or dying trees identified on public properties to help the town in its recovery process.
Clearing away the dead trees must happen before Malden can take any other major steps forward. Team Rubicon's Lead Sawyer Britni Ryan said removing them is crucial to the town’s safety.
“If we leave the trees that are dead that are completely brown, they'll just basically get to the point where they're a hazard and falling on things and causing more damage for this town," Ryan said. “We're here to help the city of Malden, hopefully recover and start rebuilding."
Trees that are not marked with pink tape will be cut down because they pose health and safety risks. The rule of thumb is if a tree is not showing any green, it is dead.
Ryan said if about 40 percent of a tree's top is still green, that means it will likely recover and keep on thriving.
Mayor Dan Harwood believes removing trees that burned in the Babb Road fire is an obvious way to see progress in Malden. Ryan told KREM 2's Amanda Roley she is proud to be part of that progress.
“I hope by removing these trees they can see a little bit of growth coming back," Ryan said. "We're going to start focusing on some of their recreational trails so that will hopefully bring people back into the area, and they'll be able to keep growing and doing what they need to do for this area.”
About a thousand more scorched trees on private Malden properties still need to be removed.
Residents can sign up for Team Rubicon’s services by messaging the Pine Creek Community Restoration Facebook page. They will try to get to those properties after completing work on the town and county properties.
“I hope that they see a future for them again and can actually start to see their homes mostly being rebuilt again," Ryan said. "Our positive aspect that we bring to this, I hope it spreads to them.”
Hope spreads in different ways. This week in Malden, it’s spreading one tree at a time.