News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
The Sisters country will get a bit smoky starting this month as the Sisters Ranger District Fire Management Group conducts its spring prescribed burning program.
The annual program, which will run till about the end of May, is designed to reduce natural fuels accumulated through years of growing cycles. Burning will also be conducted in a few units with fuels generated from logging activities.
Natural fuels project areas include the areas known as Canal, Underline, Black Butte Ranch, Jack Canyon, and the Metolius RNA.
The Canal burn will take place along Three Creeks Road south of Sisters. The Underline project is located west of Sisters between the Cold Springs Campground and Black Butte Ranch. Both are multi-year projects that originated in 1995 and 1996 to treat overstocked stands and fuel accumulations.
The Black Butte Ranch project is also a multi-year partnership project with the Black Butte Fire Department and Black Butte Homeowners Association to treat stand densities and fuels that contribute to high intensity fires.
Jack Canyon Fire Restoration is another partnership project involving Sisters/ Camp Sherman Rural Fire Department, Black Butte School, and the Nature Conservancy. This fire is to benefit rare plant habitats in an area of mixed conifer that historically experienced frequent low intensity fires.
The planned program will burn approximately 650 acres: The Canal project will consist of 205 acres; Underline, 187 acres; Black Butte Ranch, 235 acres; Jack Canyon, 75 acres; and the Metolius Research Natural Area, 20 acres.
Approximately 80 acres of the Black Butte Ranch project will be hand thinned. The slash generated will be either hand piled and burned or partially chipped on site.
Questions on the project may directed to Mark Rapp, Sisters Ranger District Fire/Fuels Specialist, at 549-2111.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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