BLM staff commenced igniting the Moon Creek/North Miller Creek slash piles yesterday, as weather conditions provided for good ignition and the considerable snow pack markedly reduced the risk of fire spreading unchecked into other areas.

The project is part of a greater national initiative to assist in the effort to ensure public and firefighter safety and reduce risks to communities while improving and maintaining ecosystem health.

“We’re really focusing our efforts on the wildland-urban interface area,” said Fire Management Officer Eric Lepisto, of the Eastern Montana – Dakotas District, headquartered in Miles City. “Our objective for this specific unit is to keep wildfire from leaving BLM ground and moving onto private land as well as to improve wildlife habitat.”

Lepisto, who recently replaced David Overcast as the district FMO said that this was an opportunity to get more “bang for the buck” by concentrating on projects that accomplish multiple objectives.

In this case, range and resource health will be improved as trees are thinned to open up the forest canopy, reduce competition from other species and encourage grass and shrub growth that wildlife rely upon. Fuels are also eliminated thereby lowering the likelihood of hot, high intensity fires that can move quickly as they consume crowded tree stands --putting firefighters and private property at risk.

Lepisto expressed appreciation for the varied partnerships with local government offices, agencies and landowners which have contributed to the project’s success.

“Faced with decreasing national fuels budgets we are prioritizing our treatments based on joint funding with cooperators,” he said. “We’re partners with the community and counties in these projects. We can’t do the job all by ourselves.”