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BLM will burn to reduce fire hazards Slash piles are being burned today in the upper Applegate watershed's Yale Creek area By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune If you see smoke rising in the mountains in the next few weeks, don't panic. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to burn about 2,700 acres in Jackson, Josephine and Douglas counties this spring as part of an effort to reduce fire hazards and restore fire-dependent ecosystems. There will be some prescribed burns this spring on the Rogue River and Siskiyou national forests. Most of that burning is in the higher elevations still covered with snow. However, slash piles are being burned today in the Yale Creek drainage in the Rogue River forest's upper Applegate River watershed. Most of the BLM burning will be "underburning" which generally crawls along the forest floor without harming mature trees. It usually creates less smoke than broadcast burning, which is normally done in the fall. Prior to underburning, many of the areas have already been thinned or the slash piled and burned. The acreage being burned this spring is part of the 23,000 acres in the BLM's Medford District slated for various treatments to reduce fire hazards around communities and increase forest health. In addition to fire, treatment includes thinning vegetation by hand, mechanical thinning and piling slash. Thus far, nearly 8,000 acres have been treated in the district. The work is part of the National Fire Plan approved by Congress following the 2000 fire season. Large blazes throughout the West that year devastated several communities. Fire experts say that a century of suppressing wildfires in many areas has created woodlands that are unnaturally dense, creating the potential for catastrophic fires. In an effort to provide benefits to the local economy, more than 95 percent of the roughly $6 million being spent on this year's treatment will be done by local contractors and workers. The agency also is letting local residents know where the burning will be held each day, said Chris Johnson, assistant fire management officer for the BLM's Medford District. Residents can call 618-2354 or 800-267-3126 to hear a recorded daily update on prescribed burning activity in the BLM's Medford District or the national forests. They can also call the Medford Interagency Communications Center at 858-2340 to ask about burning projects in the region. "We try to give them a landmark so they know where the smoke is coming from," Johnson said. "The recording is also updated every morning." Fire crews are on hand to suppress a fire should it get too large, he said. Contrary to last year, which was one of the driest on record, this year is right on target for burning in local forests, he said. "We're looking pretty normal, based on a wet fall and a good snowpack," he said. However, if the dry season starts early, the burning program would end early, he said. "The weather conditions typically dictate when it ends," he said. "When we get out of the prescription window will depend on when it starts to dry out." To protect air quality during the burning periods, the agency works closely with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, the National Weather Service, the Oregon Department of Forestry and the U.S. Forest Service. Prescribed burning is only allowed on days when conditions will allow the fire to burn safely while blowing the smoke away from populated areas. Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.