Controlled burns begin

Last week, wood smoke from several large fires wafted through Sisters.

Everyone seemed to know that the Forest Service was burning again, but many people were unsure as to exactly where the smoke was coming from.

According to Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Sisters Ranger District, the most dramatic of the burns took place on forest land adjacent to Glaze Meadow, just east of Black Butte Ranch.

"I saw someone in town who told me that it looked like a bomb went off out there," said Rapp, referring to the huge column of smoke coming from the forest.

"Actually," he said, "It went very, very well. There was a lot of ground fuel in there."

Officials have been working to reduce wildfire risk in areas close to population centers. So, now that the local fire danger is waning, the Forest Service is once again busy removing dangerous buildups of excess combustible materials in the forests surrounding Sisters.

The Glaze Meadow burn that drew most of the attention was part of a project that was started last spring but was stopped when conditions became too dry.

The Forest Service monitors such burns very carefully, and if conditions are not favorable, burn plans are often scrubbed.

A second prescribed fire near Cascade Meadow Ranch produced less smoke, but actually covered a larger area.

While that 186 acre section still added to lingering smoke in the area, there was less ground material to be burned since the parcel had been mowed two and half years ago.

Another burn started last week remains incomplete.

Sixty-five acres had been left over from an earlier project near Dark Lake, and only fifteen of those acres were burned last week.

Although conditions were otherwise favorable, a large gathering of people at nearby Camp Tamarack was the cause for that postponement.

Rapp was hopeful that the remaining 50 acres at Dark Lake could be burned by this week.

The Highway 20 corridor has been the target of an extensive forest fuels cleanup following many years of fire suppression and a severe insect infestation that left thousands of acres of dead trees.

The Dark Lake project is located just south of Suttle Lake.

Much of that area has already been treated by thinning and burning.

The campground forests along Suttle Lake were substantially thinned about two and a half years ago, and most of the forest floor south of Suttle Lake Road was subsequently treated by burning.

Dark Lake was at the top of the list because of its higher elevation where heavy precipitation could bring a halt to burning at any time.

Other high elevation burns possibly scheduled for this week include two areas near Jack Creek Campground.

Burns at lower elevations are planned for later in the season after substantial moisture has arrived. One exception is an underburn out beyond North Pine Street between Squawback Woods and the Forest Service complex in Sisters.

Underburns are low intensity fires that burn under the forest canopy and consume ground fuels only.

If conditions permit, the Forest Service hoped to complete that burn as soon as possible.

Also on the list of possible ignitions is another parcel south of town in an area known as the "canal project."

Rapp said that slash piles north of Squawback Woods and in the Indian Ford Campground area will wait for later in the season, probably late this month or early November.

The burns are intended to restore forest health by reintroducing the natural cycle of fire.

Of particular interest to local residents, however, the Forest Service's low intensity fires are also designed to help prevent larger, catastrophic fires by eliminating heavy concentrations of fuel.