Forest Service readies prescribed burns

Spring has officially arrived and, with it, the Forest Service is studying its options for the season's prescribed burns.

"As soon as conditions allow, we'll start going," said Daryl Davis, Assistant Fire Management Officer for the Sisters Ranger District.

"Dana Espinoza, our fuels technician, was out checking planned burn areas," said Davis. "He said it's still too damp to meet the conditions for these planned burns, but we could start within the next few days. Of course, that all depends on the weather."

The Forest Service is actively engaged in an aggressive program of wildfire prevention that involves thinning, mowing and controlled burns.

The focus of the effort is being directed at areas where forestland borders population centers -- the wildland interface -- and the goal is to remove excess vegetation that could fuel wildfires.

Davis reported that all the slash piles on more than 2,500 acres of Sisters and Camp Sherman area forestland were successfully burned in the fall burning cycle.

"We're thinning and piling again, though," he said. Most of the new cutting is taking place in areas along the Highway 20 corridor.

Davis cited areas near Sisters, Crossroads and Tollgate among those currently undergoing fuels reduction treatment.

Traditional tree cutting isn't the only thinning technique being used in the woods.

"There's also some thinning going on with our tree shearer machine," Davis said.

He described the machine as a vehicle about the size of a Bobcat with tracks rather than wheels. The machine grabs small trees with a set of arms and cuts them off near the ground with a set of hydraulically operated shears. It is capable of cutting trees up to about eight or nine inches in diameter and can carry about six cut trees and leave them in a neat pile.

Davis indicated that the machine is currently being used in flat, accessible areas near Black Butte Ranch and George McAllister Road.

Virginia Gibbons, of the Prineville office of the Ochoco and Deschutes National Forests, said that burning is expected to continue through about May 15.

She added that, "Prescribed burning is a carefully monitored activity that is done only during optimal weather conditions that favor the best smoke dispersal possible."

Fire Management Officer Kevin Donham said, "We target a certain amount of acres to burn and then try our best to meet that goal while minimizing impact to local communities."

Meanwhile, spring preparations for the burning program continue in the Sisters area.

"As soon as we get good weather conditions," said Davis, "we're going to start."