CANON CITY, Colo., September 22, 2008… Crews from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Royal Gorge Field Office and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Pike and San Isabel National Forests hope to begin several prescribed burns in southern Colorado throughout the coming weeks. Fire managers hope to treat up to 1,600 acres when all projects are completed. Burning could continue into November as long as favorable weather permits.

The main objective of these prescribed fires is to reduce fire behavior such that unplanned fires in these areas would burn at a lower intensity by reducing dense vegetation and accumulated fuels. These burns will also improve wildlife habitat and overall forest health.

Areas scheduled for treatment:

• Black Mountain: 450-1000 acres on the San Carlos Ranger District, San Isabel National Forest. Fuels are primarily ponderosa pine, grasses, and pinion and juniper fuels in Huerfano County. The project area is located 6 miles north of Gardner, Colorado.
• Lakemoor West: 311 acres on BLM public lands, ponderosa pine, juniper, old thinning slash and grasses in Teller County. The project area is located 38 miles northeast of Canon City and 17 miles south of Florissant, Colorado;
• Arkansas Mountain: 105 acres on BLM public lands in ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir with light slash in Fremont County. This project area is located about 1 mile south of Spruce Basin Subdivision and approximately 5 miles northwest of Cotopaxi, Colorado.

Fall Prescribed Burns Begin:

• Other projects include approximately 200 acres of pile burning that will be done later in fall after some snowfall. The pile burns are located in the Arkansas Mountain and Turkey Gulch areas in Fremont County on BLM lands and at Black Mountain on USFS lands in Huerfano County and Red Creek in Pueblo County.

Weather and fuel conditions will be closely monitored, and burns will only be initiated if on-site conditions are within established parameters for safe and effective fires. Each prescribed burn conducted by the agencies has a detailed prescribed fire burn plan developed in advance, along with appropriate smoke permits obtained from state agencies. Prescribed fires are one of many tools public land managers use to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires while improving wildlife habitat and overall land health.

In many cases, the prescribed burning is a final step in completing hazardous fuels reduction projects under the National Fire Plan. Some of these projects were started just recently and some three to five years ago. Previously implemented treatments incorporating mechanical or hand thinning, tree removal, and multiple prescribed fires that reduce "down" wood, small trees, and remove the lower limbs of larger trees, will reduce the probability of crown fires in the treated areas.