Forest Service is lighting the 'good' forest fire in Sisters

Drifting smoke was seen near Camp Sherman last Friday, but all is well, and there is no risk to the area. The U.S. Forest Service has started its controlled burning of forest fuel accumulations to reduce the possibility of wildfires.

Piles of debris from the clean-up of natural accumulation, as well as residues from thinning operations and firewood cutting, are being burned.

Every spring and fall the Forest Service conducts controlled burns to reduce the fuel available on the forest floor. This process greatly decreases the chance of wildfires getting out of control and is considered one of the best ways of protecting the Sisters area from the threats of wildfires.

By robbing the forest floor of readily available fuel, the inevitable wildfires are much easier to control and keep away from populated areas.

Jinny Pitman of the Forest Service reveals that fall and spring are the seasons of choice for conducting the controlled burns. It is a delicate balancing act for the Forest Service to find the right amount of dryness for fuel to burn and, at the same time, enough moisture to allow control. The burns must be conducted within what is sometimes a very narrow window of opportunity.

This year in particular, summer was very dry, and there has not been enough rainfall to create ideal conditions. Pitman said of Friday's burn, "It is still pretty dry out there, so we had a team from the Department of Corrections out there to make sure that all our bases were covered - to make sure that the fires don't go anywhere."

Any fire that occurs within the forest creates some level of risk; controlled burns are all about minimizing the risk both now and for the future.

The Forest Service supplements its normal staff by using inmates from the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODC).

Rob Killgore, the administrator of Oregon Corrections Enterprises explains, "Many inmates come to prison having never held a real job or learned the value of work. Our program was designed to serve Oregon citizens by providing inmates hands-on vocational training and teaching pro-social values, including work ethics, responsibility and a sense of self-worth they lost or never before experienced."

The use of a crew from the ODC not only saves tax dollars but also allows some of what taxpayers are paying to house people in prison to be indirectly recovered. As the inmates are also doing something productive for society, a win-win situation is created for everyone.

Pitman suggests that there will likely be some additional burns this week as the weather predictions are for more rain, "but it is not definite, as we have to just make our decisions based on the weather. We often have an Indian Summer which is pretty common here. It can really limit our under-burning. It could potentially mean that we might not be able to do any under-burning."

If Indian Summer is too long, remaining controlled burns may need to be postponed until spring.

"It is quite the balancing act and can be very frustrating," Pitman said. "Part of the prescription is to burn in the fall, but it just might not be possible."

Pitman points out that the Forest Service spends a great deal of energy trying to find the best time for the burns using all available resource and forecasts. Unfortunately, even the best available information is not enough at times.

Pitman said, "The weather here changes every eight hours, and it makes it very difficult to make any long-term plans. For example, Thursday we got rained out and had to cancel. The rain was not predicted by anyone and caught us by surprise.

"We use the Portland and Pendleton weather services, as well as satellite imagery and other resources."

Even so, there are always some surprises.

This year the Forest Service had planned to do some burns of wood cutters' slash in the Three Creeks and Pole Creek areas. A project was scheduled for that area Monday a week ago that had to be canceled because they had six inches of snow.