Dry weather delays 4,685-acre Ochoco NF burn
Fire managers on the Ochoco National Forest have been watching the forecast weather, looking for a burn window between archery and rifle hunting seasons to accomplish the 4,685-acre Canyon prescribed burn southwest of Walton Lake announced previously.
With the chance of precipitation that did not come about last week, and the drop in confidence of precipitation to come in the next week, the burn will be postponed to a later date. the forest announced Thursday.
“The Forest Service will continue watching the weather forecast for prescribed burning opportunities and communicating plans for future prescribed burns as they are considered to give the community and visitors to this area as much notice as possible before burning,” the agency said.
“It is the Forest Service mission as servants to our public lands to adapt to the changes and look to the future to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the forest to meet the needs of present and future generations,” Thursday’s announcement said.
“Nationally, fire season has become longer and fires have become larger in size and longevity. The forest landscape at a national level has changed for a multitude of reasons over the last one hundred years.
“Large landscape prescribed burning, reintroducing fire into our fire-adapted ecosystems, is a crucial piece to the long-term health of the Ochoco National Forest. The large prescribed burn areas have also proven to be a very effective tool for firefighters to use when large wildfires burn in the summer. The treated areas allow firefighters to catch the fires when they burn at lower intensity through the prescribed burn area. “
The National Forest understands the frustration of smoke in our beautiful Central Oregon skies throughout the spring, summer and fall. Smoke is a byproduct of living close to a fire-adapted ecosystem. With prescribed burning, they said, “we have more control over the amount and longevity of smoke than we would from a wildfire burning through the same area.”
