Upper Beaver prescribed burn planned for Ochocos this week

PRINEVILLE, Ore.— Fire managers on the Ochoco National Forest will take advantage of recent moisture to start working on the Upper Beaver prescribed burn tomorrow on the Paulina Ranger District.

The Upper Beaver burn unit totals about 3,800 acres, located 13 miles north of Paulina in the Tamarack Butte area. Ignitions are expected to last 5 to 7 days.

Plans call for hand lining a northern boundary along Forest Road 300, just south of Black Canyon Wilderness near Wolf Mountain Lookout and the South Prong trailhead. Once the hand lines are complete, firefighters will look for opportunities to ignite portions of the unit using either hand or aerial ignitions.

Objectives for the burn are to improve the natural resources within the unit by reducing hazardous fuels and improving big game habitat while restoring fire to a fire-adapted ponderosa pine ecosystem.

Smoke will be visible during periods of active burning, and could impact adjacent forest roads, or Mud Springs and Frazier campgrounds, and the nearby community of Paulina. The timing of the burn will fall between deer and elk hunting seasons in order to impact hunters as little as possible.

Visit our “Prescribed Fire in Central Oregon” map online to see an exact location of the proposed burn: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/webmaps/deschutes/cofms-rxfire/

Prescribed burning is part of a Forest Service program to remove hazardous fuels in order to reduce the potential for high-intensity uncharacteristic fire, while restoring low intensity fire to a fire-adapted ecosystem and improving range and forest health.

Prescribed burning is a proactive approach to fire management, reintroducing fire in a planned, low intensity manner that benefits the resources, instead of waiting for an unplanned ignition, such as lightning, to start a wildfire that requires an expensive suppression response and can burn with destructive intensity.

The Forest Service appreciates public tolerance of increased smoke and vehicle traffic in support of these restoration goals.

For more information on prescribed burning plans, or to be added to a burning notification list, contact Assistant Fire Management Officer Sam Pearcy at (541) 416-6428 or spearcy@fs.fed.us.

For media inquiries, contact Patrick Lair at (541) 416-6647 or plair@fs.fed.us.