Photo by JEREMY HILL

A prescribed burn that was implemented in the Pueblo Mountain range in the fall of 2019.

by Lauren Brown

In the spring and fall, it’s not unusual to see smoke billowing up from areas in Harney County. The smoke is not from out-of-control wildfires, but from prescribed burns purposefully set by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the Forest Service, and the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge (MNWR).

Joseph Sullivan is a fuels management specialist with the Burns District BLM, and he helps plan prescribed burns for the Andrews and Three Rivers field offices. He also assists the MNWR with their prescribed fire planning.

“Prescribed fire is a tool that we use to reduce fuel loading and help move our landscape toward its historical state before western expansion” Sullivan said. 

A lot of factors are taken into consideration when determining objectives for a prescribed burn. For example, Sullivan said the BLM used prescribed fire in Ponderosa pine stands to thin out the smaller trees, reduce the pine litter depths, and create some natural openings. 

“We also try to leave wildlife trees and large wildlife logs where we can. Usually, we try to burn in the spring or the fall, when our temperatures and humidity aren’t extreme,” he said.

In addition to using prescribed fire to improve habitat for wildlife, they are also aiming to create fuel breaks that firefighters can use to protect communities in the event of a wildfire.

Toby White, a fuels planner with the Burns District BLM, said prescribed burns are planned with adequate resources to contain the fire within preset, planned boundaries.

“Once these prescribed burns have been treated, they provide areas with low fuel loading that firefighters can use as anchor points to stop active wildfires from becoming megafires,” he said.

In turn, keeping the fuel load low keeps the fire intensity low, and this can be key when fighting wildfires during the dry, low-humidity summer days.

“Low-intensity wildfires can burn through low fuel loading areas without killing the overstory, helping to naturally keep the landscape at historic fuel loading levels and allowing trees to become more fire tolerant,” White said.

Prescribed fire treatments can be used to make a landscape more resilient to prevent megafires, and they can also be used to clear noxious weeds so the ground can be seeded with native plants. Casey O’Connor, fire planner with the Burns District BLM, said prescribed fire could be used, for example, on a thatch of Medusahead (an invasive weed) in the Stinkingwater area to facilitate a seeding of plants that are native to the area.

“One of the logical tools to set a site up to seed natives or perennial desired plants back into it would be to burn that thatch and kill off as much of that seed source in the ground to set that up for success,” he said.

Prescribed burns that have occurred recently include one off the Forest Service 31 Road near the Joaquin Miller and Idlewild campgrounds. O’Connor said that conditions such as wind and humidity are carefully considered. 

“They’re wanting conditions that are dry enough that they consume some of the heavier fuel on the floor and clean up the needle cast to release some nutrients for wildlife habitat as well as set the forest up to be more resilient should a wildfire occur there,” he said.

A similar treatment was performed in the Buck Springs Campground last fall, O’Connor noted.

“If we get a wildfire in those areas, it will be easy to deal with because the fuels have been reduced, and it’s a landscape that’s set up for happy, healthy fire versus a stand replacement type fire,” he said.

O’Connor said that many of the prescribed burns for the BLM consist of contract cutting and piling so that they can be burned later in the fall.

“On steeper ground, we do hand pile treatments. On ground that’s not too rocky, not too steep, we try to do mechanical piling because it’s more cost effective, and we can reduce that footprint of disturbance on the landscape,” he said.

The MNWR conducted a prescribed burn last winter near Frenchglen to improve wildlife nesting habitat and reduce decadent fuels. The refuge will carry out similar burns next winter. 

Costs for prescribed burns can vary depending on a number of factors according to Tim Boyce, a fire management specialist with the U.S. Forest Service, Malheur National Forest, Emigrant Creek Ranger District. Some factors include the complexity of the project, organizational requirements, constraints, environmental conditions during implementation, and how many acres they can complete in a day based on those variables. He said recent forest projects have ranged in cost from $30 to $70 per acre.

“The cost per acre goes down when we are able to complete more acres in a day. Cost goes up when we are limited on acres accomplished in a day,” he said.

White, who works for the Burns District BLM, said that costs in the desert habitat can range from $70 to $150 per acre treated.

“It is dependent on number of resources, whether the resources are local or if they were ordered from out of area, if aerial resources are being used or only ground resources,” he said. “Generally, the larger the area treated, the more economical per acre.”

To provide the public with more information about prescribed fire, a Prescribed Fire Trail was established at the Idlewild Campground. Along the trail, signs were installed that provide an explanation about how prescribed fire is used.

“The signs discuss the role fire historically played on the landscape, the effects of altering the fire return interval with fire suppression, forest health, the relationship between wildlife and prescribed fire, and a little overview of the planning and implementation of prescribed fire on the landscape,” Boyce said. 

O’Connor said he thinks this sort of public education is much needed.

“I don’t think we do a good job telling our story as far as what’s going on and why,” he said of the government-conducted prescribed fire projects. “Having a walk through explaining the why and what and how to the public users of the landscape, I think that’s awesome,” he said.