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March 19, 2008

Contact: 
    Jim Wolf,
    307-347-5136

BLM Announces Spring Prescribed Burns 
Throughout Basin

The Worland and Cody Field Offices of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to conduct prescribed burns and mechanical vegetation treatments at various locations in the Bighorn Basin this spring.

Igniting a prescribed fire south of Meeteetse, Wyoming.
Ken Stinson of the BLM Worland Field Office ignites sagebrush and juniper 
with a Terra Torch in the Absaroka 
Hunter Management Area south of Meeteetse.

The largest burn of 700 acres will take place in Hot Springs County 20 miles south of Meeteetse in the Absaroka Front Hunter Management Area. In southern Washakie County, burns are planned for 100 acres in Crooked Creek near Big Trails, and 100 acres in Trout Creek in the Upper Nowood drainage.

In the Cody area, vegetation treatments are planned for 100 acres on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, 100 acres on the north side of Heart Mountain, and 300 acres on the west slope of the Bighorn Mountains east of Lovell.

Restoring the historic fire return interval on landscapes improves wildlife habitat and forage production for livestock, and reduces excessive decadent vegetation so that potential wildfire is easier to control and less costly. Travelers are asked to slow down and use caution when smoke is present in the area.

The burns are a cooperative project with the LU Ranch, Baird Cattle Co, Wyoming Division of Forestry and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The majority of funding for these projects comes from the congressionally appropriated National Fire Plan.

Also planned this year are a number of mechanical vegetation treatments throughout the basin. The projects include sagebrush mowing, aspen enhancement, juniper thinning, and Russian Olive removal. For more information, or to participate in the planning of future fuels and vegetation treatment projects, contact Jim Wolf at 303-347-5136 or worland_wymail@blm.gov.

For more information on prescribed burning and vegetation management on public lands, visit http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/ . 

 

-BLM-