| Contacts: | Chris Barth, Public Information Officer | |||
| Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit | ||||
| Phone: 970.240.5317 (o) | ||||
| 970.596.0430 (c) |
Prescribed Burn Improves Habitat and Reduces Risk to Communities (09-15-10)
Montrose, Colo. – The Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit will be implementing a prescribed burn seven miles SE of Paonia along the South Fork of Minnesota Creek beginning today and lasting through Friday, September 17th. The “Bear Paw” prescribed burn is located on USFS-managed lands and consists primarily of oakbrush. The burn is approximately 400 acres and will be blacklined on Wednesday with main ignition by helitorch on Thursday.
The objectives of the burn are to improve wildlife habitat and safety of wildland urban interface communities to the north and northwest of the burn area by reducing dense vegetation. “This burn will help reduce dense vegetation in the area - improving wildlife habitat,” said Dan Huisjen, Fire Ecologist. “Reducing the fuels in this area will also decrease the intensity of a potential wildfire moving through the area - improving safety for the nearby wildland urban interface communities.”
Each prescribed burn has gone through an environmental analysis and has a detailed burn plan. Each burn plan contains specific criteria regarding weather conditions and air quality that must be met to help ensure control of the burn as well as to minimize the potential smoke impacts to local communities. There will likely be significant smoke produced from this burn due to the type of vegetation, particularly on Thursday during main ignition. Smoke should loft up and over the West Elk Mountains to the east and northeast, but may settle during the early evening hours into the Gunnison Basin and Crested Butte areas, as well as drift down valley toward Paonia.
Wildfire risk impacts all residents of western Colorado. State legislation passed in 2009 requires every Colorado county to identify wildfire hazard areas by 2011. Once identified, the county must develop a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) that identifies wildfire risk for the community and results in an implementation plan for reducing that risk. Delta, Gunnison, Montrose and Ouray Counties are currently developing their Community Wildfire Protection Plans. Each of the four counties is planning to hold public meetings in late January/early February to incorporate public input towards the development of these plans. For more information, contact your county office of emergency management or local Colorado State Forest Service office.
For information on wildfires and restrictions in the area, call the MIFMU Information line (970.874.6602), visit the MIFMU website (http://gacc.nifc.gov/rmcc/dispatch_centers/r2mtc/), or follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/MIFMU).
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.
2465 South Townsend Avenue Montrose, CO 81401