For Immediate Release: March 19, 2008

CONTACT: Dan Huisjen, 970-240-5339; Steve Ellis, 970-240-5353; Mel Lloyd, 970-244-3097; or Lee Ann Loupe, 970-874-6717

Prescribed burns slated for area

MONTROSE, Colo. – Crews from the Bureau of Land Management Uncompahgre Field Office and the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests will be conducting several prescribed burns in west-central Colorado throughout the coming weeks. Burning could begin as soon as Monday, March 24, and will continue throughout the spring and early summer as long as weather permits. The areas slated for treatment include:

Norwood/Nucla Area:

Clay Creek: 200 acres, project area is located 5 miles northeast of Norwood along the Sanborn Park Road.

Patterson Mountain: 425 acres, project area is located 6 miles north of Norwood just south of Highway 90 and the community of Ute.

Basin: 110 acres, project area is located along the Houser Road approximately 12 miles northeast of Nucla.

Uncompahgre-North Fork Valleys

Dave Wood: 400 acres, project area located 12 miles southwest of Montrose adjacent to the Dave Wood Road.

Paxton: 300 acres, project area located 9 miles west-southwest of Montrose just north of Highway 90.

Bear Paw: 100 acres, project area is located 6 miles southeast of Paonia along the South Fork of Minnesota Creek. This burn will also continue into the fall.

Fuels being treated in these areas include mechanically treated and standing pinyon-juniper at the lower elevations, ponderosa pine with a mountain shrub understory at higher elevations, and oakbrush stands. The main objective of these prescribed fires is to reduce dense vegetation to lessen the chance for catastrophic wildfires. Other benefits include improving wildlife habitat, regenerating new growth, and discouraging pine beetle reinfestation in affected areas.

Weather conditions will be closely monitored, and burns will only be initiated if conditions are within established parameters for safe and effective fires. Each prescribed burn conducted by the agencies has gone through an environmental analysis and has a detailed burn plan developed in advance, along with appropriate smoke permits obtained from state agencies. For more information on any of these burns, contact Fire Ecologist Dan Huisjen, with the Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit, at (970) 240-5339.

###