Prescribed burns planned Monday near Bend, Sunriver

Fuels specialists plan to burn 108 acres Monday along Cascade Lakes Highway, about a half-mile northeast of the Cascade Lakes Welcome Station and directly across from the Widgi Creek Golf Course.

This burn is being conducted as part of the West Bend Project. While no road or trail closures are expected, flaggers maybe used to guide traffic on Cascade Lakes Highway.

Fuels specialists will also ignite a 75-acre prescribed burn off of Forest Road 41, roughly a quarter-mile east of Besson Day Use Area and one mile east of Sunriver. While no road or trail closures are expected for this burn, traffic delays may be possible on Forest Road 41.

Additionally, if conditions prove favorable, Sisters fuels specialists will ignite 140 acres of prescribed fire in the Metolius Basin area, on the west side of Forest Road 1420, west of House on the Metolius and two miles north of the Camp Sherman and Metolius Meadows communities. No road or trail closures are expected for this burn.

Ignitions are planned for 10:30 a.m. and will continue for approximately four hours. Communities located near the listed burn areas can expect to see residual smoke impacts following the ignitions of these units. Fire crews will continue to patrol and monitor all burns for several days after ignitions.

Prescribed burning will be completed by fire staff from the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and Prineville BLM, as well as, local municipal fire departments.

The use of prescribed fire in Central Oregon’s fire adapted ecosystems restores forests to healthier conditions, reduces and removes dense vegetation that contributes to high intensity wildfires and protects communities.

For all prescribed burns, fuels specialists follow policies outlined in the Oregon Department of Forestry smoke management plan, which governs prescribed fires, and attempt to minimize impacts to visibility and public health. Once ignited, units are monitored and patrolled until they are declared out.

For more information, visit the interactive Deschutes National Forest website at https://www.fs.fed.us/r6/webmaps/deschutes/cofms-rxfire/ and follow us on Twitter @CentralORFire.

Background on the West Bend Project
The West Bend Vegetation Project is the first project to be implemented through a partnership with the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project (DCFP), an organization bringing a diverse group of stakeholders together with the Forest Service to design and plan treatments options for highly valued and historically controversial areas. DCFP was created through the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration (CFLR) Program in 2010 which awarded the Deschutes National Forest with a 10-year, $10.1 million grant to restore 145,000 acres of forest in Central Oregon. In the summer of 2013 the restoration area was approved for an expansion, bringing the total to approximately 257,000 acres and stretching from Black Butte and Bend to Sunriver and Mt. Bachelor. The Forest Service encourages visitors to KNOW BEFORE YOU GO by bookmarking our interactive map: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/webmaps/deschutes/west-bend/