Prescribed Burns To Take Place In Several Areas Of Bighorn National Forest

Bighorn National Forest officials are planning several prescribed burns over the next few weeks and months on each district.

The Beaver Creek prescribed burn in the Hunt Mountain Area, is planned to occur in the next few weeks on the Medicine Wheel Ranger District, depending on weather and favorable conditions.

This burn is a treatment for livestock allotment management, wildlife habitat improvement, and fuels reduction.

For more information, please contact Mark Foster, District Ranger at 307-765-4435.

Two burn units near the Burgess Junction area, one in Schuler Park and the other near the junction of Forest Road 10 (Hunt Mountain) and Hwy 14, known as the Prospect Unit are planned to be burned in the next few weeks, if favorable weather and conditions are present. 

These treatments were also identified as needed to meet livestock allotment management planning objectives, wildlife habitat improvement, and fuels reduction.

For more information, please contact Tongue River District Ranger Amy Ormseth at 307-674-2600.

Another prescribed burn is planned within the Buffalo Municipal Watershed project area later this fall. 

This project’s emphasis is to reduce fuel loading in the watershed and the possible negative effects of wildfire on the municipal water supply.

For more information, please contact Thad Berrett, Powder River District Ranger at 307-684-7806.

Signs will be posted to warn visitors of restricted access during burn operations, and hunting seasons will be avoided to the extent practicable. 

Updates will be posted to the Forest’s social media accounts and websites. 

Burns are likely to occur over a one to three day period when implemented. 

Smoke will likely be visible from the nearby communities of Buffalo, Sheridan and Greybull, Wyoming during the burns.

Smoke impacts are expected to be negligible to these communities or other communities due to typical wind patterns that disperse smoke.

Burns may be ignited by hand or with drones (unmanned aerial systems) and held using hand and engine crews or heavy equipment. 

The anticipated change in weather allows prescribed burns to be carried out in more moist conditions to facilitate their control and limit burn effects to natural resources, while still allowing this natural ecological process to create beneficial effects by enhancing vegetative diversity and vigor, and to reduce fuels in the advance of wildfire. 

Often these prescribed burns are conducted with the help of County, State, and other federal agency partners, for whose assistance the Forest is grateful.