| Contacts: | Erin Curtis, Public Information Officer, 970 244-2097 | |||
| Lee Ann Loupe, Public Information Officer (970) 874-6717 |
Firefighters Plan Spring Prescribed Burns
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – Federal fire officials from the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit are planning several prescribed burns this spring in Mesa and Garfield counties to reduce hazardous fuels and improve wildlife habitat.
The burns will be conducted when weather, moisture, and fuel conditions allow. The burns are primarily in oak brush and pinyon-juniper forests, and most will be conducted sometime between April 5 and May 15.
As early as next week, the two-acre Red Canyon prescribed fire will be conducted within the Colorado National Monument. The fire is part of a research project and will help fire managers understand how invasive plant species respond to fire. It will occur between DS Road and the Red Canyon Overlook, just south of Rim Rock Road.
The 220-acre Black Ridge prescribed fire will be primarily in sagebrush and pinyon-juniper forests on BLM lands 13 miles west of Grand Junction near Glade Park. The Battlements prescribed burn will include about 500 acres of oak brush BLM land, about four miles north of the town of Collbran. The 700-acre Mud Hill burn will be conducted 14 miles southeast of Collbran on mostly oak brush land on the Grand Mesa National Forest.
The 2,300-acre Reservoir Gulch prescribed fire is planned on a mix of lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, White River National Forest and the Grand Mesa National Forest west of County Road 342. It’s about 14 miles south of Silt and 17 miles northeast of Collbran.
The 1,400-acre West Divide prescribed fire is on lands administered by the White River National Forest about 12 miles south of Silt. The burn will be east of County Road 344 and Flatiron Mountain.
The Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit is composed of the BLM Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction Field Offices; Grand Valley Ranger District of the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests; the White River National Forest; and the Colorado National Monument. It encompasses more than 4.5 million acres oriented along the Interstate 70 corridor from the Continental Divide on the east to the Utah state line on the west.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
2815 H Road Grand Junction, CO 81506