Spring Prescribed Burning Projects to Begin on the
Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Steve Hawkins 541-523-1262 or Katy Gray 541-523-1246
Apr 19, 2018
BAKER CITY, OR – The Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
will begin implementing its prescribed burning program as the snow melts and
drier weather conditions prevail. Prescribed fire managers are planning to
implement hazardous fuel reduction burns beginning at many project sights.
Prescribed
fire is a major component of the Cohesive Wildfire Strategy to meet the goals
of restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes and creating fire adapted communities.
Prescribed burning is done to reduce dead and down
fuels, selectively thin understory trees in dense forested stands, stimulate
fire tolerant plant species, enhance forage and browse, reduce the risk
of large stand-replacement fires, create strategic fuels breaks in the urban
interface, and restore fire under controlled conditions as a disturbance factor
in these landscapes. Prescribed burns can range from ten acres to thousands of
acres in size. Prescribed burns often are accomplished with combined resources
of local rural fire departments, contractors, and State and other federal fire
agencies.
Fire
history studies have shown that fire was a dominant natural process in the Blue
Mountains, maintaining a more open and park-like condition throughout the low-
to mid-elevation forests. Low-intensity
surface-fires burned throughout these drier forests and grasslands perpetuating
open, park-like stands of fire tolerant tree species such as ponderosa pine,
Douglas-fir, and larch.
Hazardous fuel reduction is not
without impacts. Smoke associated with prescribed burning is a major concern
and the hardest to forecast in the implementation planning process. Prescribed
fire managers work closely with the Oregon State Smoke Forecast Center in
accordance with the Oregon Smoke Management Plan to determine when, where, and how much is burned on a daily
basis. Smoke dispersion models are used to look at the volume of smoke, the direction
of spread and the mixing height prior to each burn. If a burn is forecasted to
produce smoke that will be a significant impact to a community or sensitive
area it is rescheduled until there is a more favorable weather forecast.
Burning is
part of the series of fuel reduction treatments intended to decrease the damage
done by wildfires, including reducing the amount of smoke that typically
impacts communities during the fire season. The
intent is to keep smoke out of populated areas.
Burning under controlled conditions reduces surface and ladder fuels
setting the stage to limit future high intensity unplanned fires and the smoke that
they would produce. Many areas are burned on 10 to 15 year rotations to limit
fuels accumulations and enhance forage and browse important to wildlife.
Wallowa-Whitman
forest managers have been successfully conducting prescribed burning operations
for fuel reduction for over 30 years, and plan to continue into the foreseeable
future. In the last 5 the forest has increased prescribed burning by 20%.
Twenty thousand acres of hazardous fuels were treated last year.
Actual acres
within a project area may vary due to fuel conditions, smoke dispersion, wind
patterns, and other variables. Acres may be higher or lower in some project
areas than listed. Weather patterns, fuel conditions, and smoke dispersion will
determine exactly where and when units are ignited within the project areas. It
is anticipated that not all areas will be within prescription and will not be
implemented this spring, while other project areas may have additional acres
within prescription that may be implemented.
The Wallowa-Whitman plans to burn approximately 8000
acres across the forest this spring. For more information about the Wallowa Whitman
prescribed burning program, you may contact Steve Hawkins at 541-523-1262, or
visit the Blue Mountain Prescribe Fire Council website at http://bluemtnprescribedfire.blogspot.com/ to view the spring 2018, burn unit
maps.
Whitman Ranger District
(WRD) – 541-523-4476
(Baker, Halfway, and Unity). The WRD plans to conduct prescribed burning on 5,000 acres this spring,
which may include:
- Foothills (200 acres) – 4 miles west of Baker City ,OR
- Deer (1000 acres) – 1 mile northeast of Sumpter, OR
- Union Miners (300 acres) – 7 miles east of Sumpter, OR
- Mile 9 (150 acres) – 5
miles west of Unity, OR
- Goose (250 acres) – 17 miles northwest of Richland, OR
- Sparta (350 acres) – 1
miles north of Sparta, OR
- Barnard (300 acres) – 6 miles northwest of Halfway, OR
- Little Dean (300 acres) – 2 miles north of Phillips Lake
- Broman (2500 acres) – 8 miles northwest of Unity, OR
- Pine Valley (500)- 5.5 Miles North of Halfway,OR
 |
| Halfway Area Rx Map |
 |
| Sumpter Area Rx Map |
- Ches Elk (5,300 acres) – 30 miles northeast of Enterprise, OR
- B-Vine (7,900 acres) – 30 miles north/northeast
of Enterprise, OR
 |
| Wallowa Fire Zone Rx Map |
The Grande Ronde
Fire Zone (GRFZ) – 541-963-7186 (La Grande Ranger District). The GRFZ plans to conduct prescribed burning on up to 1000
acres this spring, which may include:
- Blue Fly (400 acres) – 15 miles
southwest of La Grande, OR near Vey Meadows and Blue Springs
- Medical Springs (600 acres) – 15 miles southeast of Union, OR
 |
| Grande Ronde Fire Zone Rx Map |
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