Forest Service set to start burning

The Sisters Ranger District is ready to start its season of prescribed burning in Sisters forests.

The agency has designated 2,600 acres for burning, though the actual acreage burned will almost certainly be far less.

"The likelihood that we burn all these acres this year is pretty slim, honestly," said Craig Letz, who is serving as Acting Sisters District Ranger while Bill Anthony is on temporary assignment to the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests in Washington.

"We like to have a variety (of units available) so depending on the weather we can pick and choose - depending on the wind, actually," said district fire specialist Jinny Pitman.

Pitman said the prescribed burning program could get underway as early as this week, with units northwest of Tollgate getting "ripe" for treatment.

The Forest Service held open house meetings with the public in Sisters and Camp Sherman before launching into the program. Monday's meeting at the Sisters Fire Hall was lightly attended and most of the questions raised by members of the public revolved around smoke impacts.

But looming over the burning season is the lasting impact of last fall's Wizard Fire.

A Forest Service prescribed burn escaped last September in Camp Sherman and burned 1,840 acres, costing $4 million to douse. In the wake of that incident, some Sisters Country residents have called for an end to prescribed burning or for applying fire only after rains have reduced the danger of escape.

Bill Anthony, who returned from his temporary assignment to participate in the meetings, said that the fire happened because of lapses in patrolling of the fire after most of the work had been done - not because of a fundamental problem with prescribed burning.

"That was right where it needed to be in terms of fuel and weather," Anthony said. Had the lapses in patrolling not occurred, "it would have been a perfectly executed burn and nobody would have even thought about it."

In response to the Wizard Fire, the Forest Service has revised its planning guides; improved tracking procedures for times when multiple ignitions are underway; and clearer delegation of authority to make sure transitions of command and responsibility go smoothly.

There will be more intensive staff supervision and enhanced patrolling on burns "until it is clear that revised operational procedures are properly functioning," according to Forest Service documents.

Anthony said that the agency will be especially cautious in its handling of fire.

"It's more important to go slow than to put up a big number (of treated acres)," Anthony said. "It's real important that we have a successful season and rebuild that trust and comfort with the public again."

Burning is only one part of a program of forest fuels treatment. The Sisters Ranger District usually burns about 500 to 1,000 acres a year, while treating a total of about 5,000, mostly with thinning and mowing.

The object is to reduce fuels that can feed wildfires in the "interface" area where communities meet the surrounding forest and to return local forests to healthier, more historical conditions.

This year, thinning efforts are getting a boost from federal stimulus spending (see "Sen. Wyden visits forest thinning site," The Nugget, April 8, page 1).

Anthony, who returns to the Sisters Ranger District on June 1, is very pleased to see the work underway.

"It's such a phenomenal opportunity," he said. "Put people to work, important work. It would have taken us years to accumulate that kind of funding."

Residents of the Sisters Country should expect to see smoke beginning to rise over the next couple of weeks as the burn program gets underway. The agency works with weather forecasters to try to minimize smoke impacts, but some effect may be felt. Flaggers will be posted along Highway 20 west of town when the burns northwest of Tollgate get underway.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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