BLM to conduct slash pile burning

The Bureau of Land Management Buffalo Field Office is planning to burn slash piles on BLM administered lands this fall and winter in several areas including Slip Road, Beartrap, Hazelton Road, Billy Creek, and Weston Hills in north central Campbell County.

Burning may begin this month and continue through April 2021, with all prescribed burn projects conducted in accordance with approved burn plans which specify weather, smoke dispersal, and fuel moisture conditions.

“Conducting these controlled burns is an effective and efficient way to help maintain a balanced and healthy forest system,”  Jacob McClure, lead range technician, High Plains District said. “Using the cooler and wetter winter months allows us to conduct these burns in a way that is controlled to specific areas, resulting in a more healthy forest that is more resilient and resistant to wildfires that occur during our drier months.”

BLM crews will be conducting burns along the Slip Road, where crews have been hand thinning to restore meadows and curl-leaf mahogany stands, and to create fuel breaks adjacent to the road. In total, BLM fire crews will burn 65 acres of hand piles along Slip Road. 

Additionally, several machine piles from the Trough Springs, Pyrenees and Beartrap timber sales, will be burned south of Slip Road, and at Beartrap and Hazelton Road.  

In north central Campbell County in the Weston Hills area, BLM has completed a fuels reduction project and will burn hand piles on approximately 310 acres.

In the Billy Creek area, BLM crews have completed thinning treatments on BLM administered lands equaling 270 acres surrounding Billy Creek road. BLM provides a public slash disposal site to local homeowners at Billy Creek for debris associated with fuels reduction treatments. The site can accommodate small material such as branches and small trees. BLM burns the pile every winter and would like to remind users that items such as excavated stumps, logs, and construction materials are not allowed in the pile because they are difficult to maneuver and burn, or unburnable materials such as nails are left behind.