High Desert District
| Contacts: | Shelley Gregory | |||
| 307-315-0612 |
BLM High Desert District Plans Spring Prescribed Fires
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) High Desert District plans to conduct five prescribed fire treatments within the Rawlins (RFO) and Pinedale (PFO) field office areas this spring.
Prescribed fires are designed to improve wildlife habitat and watersheds, increase forage distribution and production for livestock, improve rangeland vegetation health, reduce the hazardous build-up of fuels, slow the encroachment of pine and juniper into productive grasslands and stimulate aspen growth.
Planned prescribed fires in the RFO include:
- Marking Pen Creek: 2,000 acres of mountain mahogany, bitterbrush, sagebrush, aspen and conifers will be burned within the 7,000 acre project area 25 miles northeast of Rawlins, Wyo. in the Seminoe Mountains.
- Miner Creek/East Ferris: 8,250 acres of sagebrush, mountain shrubs, aspen and conifer will be burned within the 144,250 acre project area 25 miles north of Rawlins on the east portion of Ferris Mountain.
- Iron Mountain: 400 acres of mountain mahogany, bitterbrush and sagebrush will be burned within a total area of 6,250 acres 30 miles northwest of Cheyenne, Wyo.
Planned prescribed fires in the PFO include:
- Upper Billies: 450 acres of conifer encroached aspen will be burned across 850 acres along the Wyoming Range front 20 miles northwest of Big Piney, Wyo.
- Camp Creek: 210 acres of conifer encroached aspen will be burned within the 3,523 acre project area 20 miles northwest of Big Piney. This treatment is a continuation of the prescribed burn initiated in June of 2011.
The Upper Billies and Camp Creek prescribed fires are part of the Wyoming Front Aspen Restoration Project which seeks to improve aspen stand health and wildlife habitat throughout the eastern flank of the Wyoming Range.
The exact timing of the prescribed fires is dependent on fuel and weather conditions meeting the burn prescription. Additional information will be released for each fire treatment as it is initiated.
For more information, please contact RFO Fuels Specialist Chris Otto at 307-328-4250 or PFO Fuels Specialist Greg Reser at 307-367-5350.
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.
High Desert District 280 Highway 191 North Rock Springs WY 82901