ALAMOSA — The Colorado State Forest Service will be offering a tree pruning workshop on Thursday April 5th in Center. This workshop will be held at the Kiwanis Building at S. Broadway St and E. 5th St.

The primary focus of the workshop will be the pruning of young trees from the ground without the use of a ladder. By using basic tools such as pruning shears and small pruning saws, participants will gain hands-on experience in basic tree pruning techniques and structural pruning.

Trees add value to a property by accentuating a home’s architecture, enhancing aesthetics, providing summer shade and offering protection from winter winds. Trees benefits can be improved through pruning young trees to provide clearance over sidewalks and streets will help to minimize the amount of large-diameter limbs removed in the future.

“It is better practice to remove branches while they are smaller,” says Adam Moore, forester at the CSFS Alamosa Field Office. It is much easier for a tree to heal over a 1- to 2-inch diameter wound versus a 5- to 6-inch diameter wound, the latter caused by removing a larger branch later on in a tree’s life. It also is much more cost-effective to remove smaller branches than it is to remove larger ones.

The following pruning topics will be covered:

- Developing and maintaining one dominant vertical stem.

- Branch spacing.

- Where to prune.

- How much to prune?

Vince Urbina, community forester with the CSFS Urban and Community Forestry Program, will be the instructor for the workshop. “Vince brings a wealth of knowledge from the nursery, fruit tree and community forestry industries,” says Moore.

The workshop will be offered from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on April 5th in the Kiwanis Building. The morning session will be classroom-based, with an afternoon field session. The cost of the workshop is $20, which includes lunch. Space is limited to 20 participants so be sure to register early. Call 587-0915 for reservations.

The Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) provides professional forestry assistance, wildfire mitigation expertise and outreach and education to help landowners and communities achieve their forest management goals. The CSFS is a service and outreach agency of the Warner College of Natural Resources at Colorado State University and provides staffing for the Division of Forestry within the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. For more information, visit csfs.colostate.edu.