Document text
Watershed burn operation set By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Pillars of smoke could soon be visible as the U.S. Forest Service continues work to reduce the risk of high-intensity wildfire in the Ashland Watershed. If weather and fuels conditions allow, crews will begin burning material on Wednesday that was thinned from the forest and placed in scattered piles across 80 acres, said Les Robertson, acting fuels manager for the Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests. "This is some good stuff we're doing," he said. "It's hazardous fuels reduction. By removing the small diameter, densely packed trees, hopefully we'll prevent fires from going into the crowns." The burning likely will continue for two or three days, and the area will be patrolled to prevent fire from spreading, according to Robertson. The work is part of the multi-year Ashland Watershed Protection Project - an effort to thin brush and trees on nearly 1,550 acres of Ashland Ranger District land in the hills above the city. On-the-ground work began in Oct. 2001. Crews from Southern Oregon University's REAL Corps, Skookum Reforestation and Grayback Forestry have since thinned hundreds of acres and burned the material as wet weather has allowed. Before Wednesday's burning begins, Robertson said U.S. Forest Service officials will get clearance that morning from the Oregon Department of Forestry's Salem office, which monitors weather conditions. Meteorologists will be watching for conditions that allow the smoke to dissipate before it can reach Ashland, to blow the other way or to loft over the city, according to Nick Yonker, ODF smoke management meteorologist. "We don't mind if smoke goes overhead. That's OK," Yonker said. "If it comes in on the ground where people can breathe it, that's not OK." The U.S Forest Service also is planning to burn logging slash from the Squaw Elliott, Lower Summit and Little Applegate timber sales in the Applegate Ranger District, according to Robertson. A total of 1,305 acres will be burned over the next several weeks if weather and fuels conditions permit, he said. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -