USFS spring burning nears completion

The Forest Service is pleased with the progress toward completion of its spring schedule of controlled burns.

The program is designed to reduce wildfire danger in forest areas near Sisters.

The work is being coordinated by Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Sisters Ranger District.

"We have about three-fourths of the work done close to town," said Rapp.

That amounts to nearly 700 acres of forest lands that have already been fire-treated.

He was apologetic about the smoke produced by the project.

"The Sisters Fire Management Group is appreciative of people's tolerance of the prescribed burns we've been doing the past few weeks," Rapp said.

"There's still more to do," he added.

At the top of the list is an 80 acre parcel about three miles southwest of town in what is known as the "canal project."

Another 10 acre piece yet to be burned is located west-northwest of Cascade Meadow Ranch in an area that has already been partially burned.

"We also have more work up in the vicinity of Black Butte Ranch near Glaze Meadow," he said.

An additional 65-acre burn is planned at the west edge of the ranch near George McAllister Road.

"Once those are completed," Rapp said, "we have another 400 acres southwest of Suttle Lake and another piece at the east end of the lake, near Highway 20."

Rapp indicated that the Highway 20 burn had the potential, at least, to cause traffic disruptions near the already-dangerous sharp curve just east of Suttle Lake.

Three weeks ago, heavy smoke from a burn three miles west of Sisters prompted the Forest Service to exercise traffic control with flaggers and pilot cars.

Last week, another burn south of town brought some unexpected smoke into Sisters.

"I'd like to apologize for any inconvenience," Rapp said. "We had a wind shift that pushed smoke into town. Once we're in the middle of a burn, you can't turn the smoke off like you would a faucet. Those things do happen."

After about an hour, the wind shifted back to the predicted westerly flow, and the smoke cleared from town.

Another scheduled burn up in the Jack Creek drainage is unlikely to affect Sisters, but could produce some smoke in the Camp Sherman area.

"We're not going to do this forever," he said. "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

"We'll get it done."