A company’s patented method of removing trees with bulldozers has been boosted by the Utah Legislature but “can only be used on very specific lands,” a new audit explained.
Mike Siaperas, a software executive turned rancher, patented “roller felling” — a method that involves stringing a cable between two bulldozers and hanging a barrel on it to keep it suspended above the ground as they move forward. The practice rips conifer trees out of the ground so that fire-resistant, less-thirsty aspens can grow in their place.
Lawmakers previously allocated money for 106 Reforestation in 2019 — a $2 million appropriation for “strategic and targeted forest fire treatment.” Lawmakers appropriated another $500,000 for the company the following year. The state Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands — part of the Department of Natural Resources — has partnered with Utah State University to determine the environmental impacts of roller felling. That study has not yet been completed.
The federal government manages most of the land that is suitable for roller felling, according to Don Peay, a hunting advocate who has served on the board of Siaperas’ Atlantis USA Foundation. More than three-quarters of Utah’s forests lie on federal land.