For Immediate Release: Feb. 8, 2008
Contact: David Boyd, Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 947-2832

New Castle Fire to be re-seeded from the air

(Glenwood Springs, Colo.) – The Bureau of Land Management, Natural Resource Conservation Service and Colorado Division of Wildlife’s Habitat Partnership Program are working together to aerially re-seed areas burned by last summer’s New Castle Fire.

During the week of Feb. 11, a single engine air tanker will drop 13,000 pounds of native grass seeds on 445 acres of BLM-managed lands and 249 acres of private lands. The flights should be completed in one day, weather permitting.

“The melting snow should provide a good moisture base for seed germination,” said Carla DeYoung, ecologist for the Glenwood Springs Field Office. “We want to give the native species a chance to get established before invasive, non-natives like cheatgrass can take hold.”

Ecologists will monitor the burned areas this summer to measure the success of the re-seeding effort and to watch for noxious weeds.

Operations will be based at the Garfield County Airport in Rifle. Area residents may notice an increase in small plane traffic between Rifle and Canyon Creek while the re-seeding operation occurs.

“The plane can hold about 1,000 pounds of seed per flight,” DeYoung said, “so we’re looking at a little more than a dozen flights.”

The New Castle Fire burned 1,240 acres in June east of New Castle, Colo., near the Canyon Creek subdivision.

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