Forest Service burning continues

The Forest Service is providing some festive holiday lighting out in the forest these days.

For the last several days, isolated fires could be seen burning in wooded areas around Sisters -- particularly along Highway 20 near Black Butte Ranch.

The controlled burn signs were up again, and smoke wafted across the highway.

The smoke, however, wasn't nearly as dense as that created by some of the earlier projects that involved underburning whole forest sections in the same general area.

Mark Rapp, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Sisters Ranger District, said that the burning could go on all winter.

Still subject to burning are a host of slash piles -- many of which were stacked by inmate work parties over the course of the summer.

The Forest Service has been systematically removing excess vegetation and forest debris to reduce fire danger in the area.

The slash piles burn hot, so the plan was to wait until sufficient moisture fell on the forest.

The current moisture content is more than enough.

Rapp had hoped that most of the piles would be gone by now, but the weather conspired against the Forest Service's plans.

"It was so dry out there this year," Rapp said, "and, then, when the precipitation started, we got so much, so fast that we couldn't keep up with it."

Some of the piles have been successfully eliminated, but Rapp says that there are quite a few more yet to burn.

He explained that the snow is so deep in places that it extinguishes the fire all around the edges of the burn, leaving an unsightly doughnut-shaped pile of unburned debris.

In addition to the piles along the Highway 20 corridor, he says that there are a "whole bunch more" in an area behind Black Butte Ranch.

Many stacks in the Squawback Woods area are also awaiting the torch.

"If the snow melts back a little and we can get some freeze-drying, we can kind of pick away at them," Rapp said. "Historically, we sometimes get a cold dry spell in about January, and we may be able to knock some of them off then."

Since the debris piles can generate intense heat, the Forest Service would prefer to burn them now, rather than wait until spring when rapid drying could occur.

"People can expect to see some burning going on throughout the winter as opportunities present themselves," Rapp said.

So, for the time being, at least, local residents will continue seeing some of the fires glowing on into the evenings and reflecting off the snow in the local forests.