Suttle Lake slash burn causes haze

Smoke poured into Camp Sherman from the Suttle Lake area as the Forest Service burned logging slash on Sunday.

But the burning will stop on Wednesday so visitors to the area will have a nice Memorial Day weekend, according to Rock Gerke, fire management officer with the Sisters Ranger District.

"We burned three-and-a-half units of the Santiam corridor units last night, Gerke said on Monday, May 24. That totaled approximately 83 acres.

The fires were set on the slopes between the Santiam Highway and Suttle Lake to clear logging slash left over from the Santiam Corridor timber sale. That forest health project was designed to remove trees killed by the spruce budworm.

"We are cleaning up the residues from that timber sale for the maintenance of forest health, Gerke said.

Motorists will be driving by the smoke, but "it is by no means a hazard, Gerke said. The fires are between Suttle and Corbett Sno Park. The highway is the holding line.

Gerke said the Forest Service has to burn when they can. The material has to be dry enough, and the weather has to cooperate. Smoke is a byproduct that sometimes can't be avoided, but it is taken into consideration, he said.

"We got more of an inversion last night than we anticipated. Unfortunately, the smoke follows much the same course water does. Last night it ran down Lake Creek and impacted Camp Sherman," Gerke said. He thought the smoke should have lifted or lightened Monday afternoon.

"We do not anticipate (the smoke) will be there tomorrow (Tuesday) morning because of the passage of the cold front late tonight which should scour out the air," said Gerke.

The Forest Service intends to burn two more units along the Santiam totaling 100 acres, but will stop midweek.

"We have made an administrative decision that we would not burn past this Wednesday. The smoke should be cleared out for a pleasant experience of our summer recreationists this weekend," said Gerke.

South of Sisters toward Broken Top, the Forest Service also burned 73 acres in the area of the Walla Bear timber sale. That project, also designed to clean up logging slash, is complete.