Prescribed burns planned in area Thursday through Sunday

Rogue Valley Times staff

With warm weather finally arriving, forest fuels are starting to dry out enough to allow prescribed burning operations to commence on federal lands in southwest Oregon.

Later this week and over the weekend, a number of areas are coming into the appropriate burn window that allows for safe burning operations, with an emphasis on reducing fuels to protect communities from wildfire threat while restoring forest resiliency, according to a joint news release from the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest and Bureau of Land Management, Medford District.

Some of the burns are expected to be large and highly visible, and might cause public concern to the point that people will call 911, said Virginia Gibbons, spokesperson for the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

“They can put up quite a bit of smoke,” Gibbons said.

Residents can expect to see some significant smoke in the Ashland area and the Applegate Valley, Waters Creek near Grants Pass, and the Willow Lake area, with some burning units of up to 350 acres planned starting Thursday through Sunday.

“With favorable weather upon us, we are going to resume our efforts to put ‘good fire’ on the landscape,” said Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor Merv George, Jr. “We utilize these shoulder seasons around fire season to remove as much hazardous fuels as safely possible. Once fire season starts, we will cease prescribed burning and transition right into suppression season.” 

During burning operations, fire personnel carefully monitor weather conditions to minimize smoke impacts and to keep the fire in control, the release stated. The spring and fall seasons are the best times of year to light a prescribed burn, as the fuels are in the right condition to burn without the fire getting too intense. This is achieved by creating a “cool” fire that stays on the ground and burns slowly through the vegetation, the release said.

Landscapes maintained by “good” fire are typically better for wildlife and native plants, and therefore create landscapes that are “healthier” or more resilient, from an ecological perspective, officials said.

Prescribed burns are carried out by trained firefighters who burn within “units” that have fire breaks along their boundaries. Fire breaks can include natural and human-made features (such as pre-dug fire lines). Equipment is nearby to ensure the flames don’t escape the unit. After ignition is complete, burn units are mopped up and patrolled until the burn is declared out, the release said.

The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest has up to 1,155 acres of underburns planned.

In the Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District:

• The Ashland Forest Resiliency Project in the Ashland Watershed — a 350-acre maintenance burn in the west side of the watershed/Panther Peak area. See ashlandwatershed.org for more information.
• Upper Applegate Watershed between Palmer Creek and Flumet Campground, 135 acres.

In the High Cascades Ranger District:

• Bowen Willow, a 300-acre burn near Willow Lake.

The BLM-Medford District has 630 acres of underburns planned.

In the Butte Falls Field Office area, four units near Butte Falls covering 331 acres are planned, with two units northeast of Butte Falls near Butte Falls/Prospect Highway, one unit near Fredenburg Mountain, one unit in West Fork of Elk Creek.

In the Ashland Field Office area, four burns covering 299 acres are planned in the Applegate Valley, including an Upper Applegate Watershed project in Beaver Creek, near Boaz Mountain, near Cantrall Buckley Park, and in Tompson Creek.

Burns will generally start between 10 and 11 a.m. with signage posted on roadways as needed, the release said.

This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.