The South Park Ranger District will be conducting prescribed burns as part of ongoing hazardous fuels reduction projects. As conditions permit, burns in Park County’s Wilson, Obrien, and Beaver project areas will start mid-October and run through December 2021.
These burns will reduce fuel loading as well as risk to the public and firefighters suppressing wildfires in the area. South Park District Ranger Josh Voorhis said prescribed fires help to increase overall forest health, as well as protect communities from wildfires. “By managing the landscape using low to moderate intensity fire, carefully managed by fire and fuel specialists, we promote more resilient landscapes.”
The Wilson project area, measuring about 400 acres, is located half a mile south of Lake George, CO, near the Eleven Mile Canyon Entrance, east of Park County Road 61, and west of the Wilson Lake Estates subdivision.
The Beaver project area, located approximately nine miles south-southwest of Lake George, is about 200 acres. It is south of County Road 98, east of County Road 100, and south of the Beaver Valley and Echo Valley subdivisions.
The Obrien project area is about three miles southwest of Lake George and measures about 200 acres. It lies southeast of County Road 92, just south of Forest Road 251.1B. Each of the selected areas has been prepared in advance to support safe burning operations.
Visitors to the forest can expect occasional closures in these areas during ignition operations, to support firefighters and public safety.
Burns will only occur when weather and fuel conditions meet safety parameters and when smoke impacts can be managed within established requirements. Operations may go for several days, depending on the size of the burn area.
While smoke is a natural fire byproduct and is often unavoidable, smoke impacts from prescribed burns are far lower than from wildfires. Fire managers must get state permits, which set conditions to reduce smoke impacts. Smoke will be visible from the surrounding area, including the Highway 24 corridor, and may hang around the burn areas for a few days following the initial ignitions. More information on smoke can be found online at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.
Follow @PSICC_NF on Twitter for up-to-date information on this and other topics. Use #LkGeoRX for information on the South Park Ranger District prescribed fires and updates of when burns will take place. For more fire resources, please visit the U.S. Forest Service website.
Recent Comments