This spring, firefighters with the Bureau of Land Management’s Missoula Field Office as well as the Lolo and Flathead National Forests are planning to conduct prescribed burns to reduce hazardous fuels, restore wildlife habitat and better protect communities from future wildfires.
Each project follows a Prescribed Fire Burn Plan. The prescribed fire projects are located and designed to be controlled to reduce the potential for adverse effects, or to escape as a wildland fire.
Frequent, low-intensity fire is essential for improving habitat conditions for wildlife by promoting nutrient recycling of fire-adapted vegetation and growth of new forage for wildlife browse. Additionally, prescribed fires help to reduce crown fire potential by eliminating dead and diseased vegetation and ladder fuels. Ladder fuels provide opportunity for a ground fire to move into the tree canopy creating a crown fire. Crown fires are much more difficult to control during wildfire responses.
All prescribed burns will be implemented in compliance with Montana air quality standards and coordinated with county officials and the Montana State Department of Environmental Quality to reduce the impacts of smoke to neighbors, cooperators and surrounding communities. Smoke is expected to be a short-duration event and may settle in valley bottoms and drainages overnight, but it is expected to dissipate within a few days.
BLM Missoula Field Office:
The proposed prescribed fires with the BLM, including one of about 570 acres, are planned for areas near the Riverbend Campground north of Potomac and west of Highway 200 near Greenough. The timing of these burns is dependent on weather and fuel conditions. The prescribed burns will be implemented by fire managers from the BLM and may use both aerial ignition by helicopter and ground ignition using drip torches.
For more information call the Missoula Field Office at 406-329-3869.
Lolo National Forest
Prescribed burning on the Lolo National Forest began last week on the Missoula Ranger District. While fuels are still too wet locally, the Seeley Lake Ranger District has plans to burn units in the Horseshoe Hills, Mountain Creek, The Summit area (both sides of Highway 83), and Swan Face next to the Flathead National Forest Boundary. This is dependent on favorable conditions which include correct temperature, wind, fuel moisture and ventilation for smoke. When these criteria are met, firefighters implement, monitor and patrol each burn to ensure it meets forest health and public safety goals including air quality.
For additional information about these projects, follow the Lolo National Forest on Facebook @lolonationalforest or on Twitter at @LoloNF.
Flathead National Forest
Spring prescribed fire projects are planned on the Swan Lake, Tally Lake, Hungry Horse and Spotted Bear Ranger Districts.
Projects specific to the Swan Lake Ranger District include:
• Huey, Dewey, Louie Timber Sales - Broadcast burning in timber harvest units located within the Blacktail Mountain area west of Lakeside and South of Kila. These treatments will use prescribed fire for fuels reduction, vegetation regeneration and wildlife habitat improvement.
• How Now Timber Sale – This project includes broadcast burning in timber harvest units located on Sixmile Mountain, north of Swan Lake. These treatments will use prescribed fire for fuels reduction and vegetation regeneration.
• Swan Valley Bottom Maintenance Burning –
Maintenance broadcast burning in previously treated timber harvest units located within the Swan Valley. These treatments will use prescribed fire for fuels reduction, large ungulate winter range improvement and improvement of forest health.
• Swan Lake Ranger Station – Under burning the administrative site at the Swan Lake Ranger District office located in Bigfork. These treatments will use prescribed fire for fuels reduction and wildlife habitat improvement.
• Pile Burning - Hand or machine piles are located in areas within the Blacktail Mountain area, Swan Valley, Bigfork community and miscellaneous piles around the district as a result of but not limited to: logging, hazardous fuels reduction in the wildland urban interface, hazard tree removal, recreation site management and trail or road construction. These piles are burned to reduce fuel loads in these areas. These piles are strategically burned based on their location, access and weather conditions.
For more information about these projects, contact the Swan Lake Ranger District 406-837-7500. For precise prescribed fire ignition dates and times, follow the Flathead’s Facebook “Discover the Flathead” and Twitter “FlatheadNF” profiles.
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