La Pine-area BLM thinning project visible along Hwy. 97

Residents and visitors traveling along Highway 97 north of La Pine can now get a good look at the Prineville BLM Prairie Project, a hazardous fuels thinning effort to help create a fuel break along the highway.

The agency said the goal of the 2,745-acre project is to reduce the intensity of fire behavior of a wildfire moving through the area, and increase the safety of firefighters responding to fires.

“Roads leading to La Pine State Park and Paulina/Newberry lakes receive significant recreational use, and thinning in this area will help provide safer corridors for travel in the event that an evacuation is needed,” the agency said Thursday.

BLM is working as needed with Oregon Department of Transportation for traffic control on Highway 97, and no road closures or significant delays are expected.

Currently, a contractor is thinning on both sides of Highway 97, between the junctions of Paulina Lake Road and Highway 97 at the south end of the project, and State Rec Road and Highway 97 on the north end of the project.

The contractor will then move to a site next to the Deschutes County Transfer site (also near Highway 97), the BLM said.

The contractor will remove commercial timber, chips and firewood from the area, and will mulch some material to be left on site.

When the thinning portion of the project is complete, BLM fuels specialists will pile and burn any remaining woody debris.

The project is the culmination of input from members of the local community and local government and fire departments through the development of the Greater La Pine Community Wildfire Protection Plan.

The plan identified areas on public and private land throughout southern Deschutes County that could be thinned to reduce wildfire risk.

BLM fuels treatments over the past several years have focused on thinning within and adjacent to the park, and are now moving out toward Highway 97 along State Rec Road.

The agency said the project should be completed by the end of 2017.

For more information about this project, including a map, and other fuels projects with the Prineville BLM, please visit http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/prineville/fire/hazard.php, or call 541-416-6700.