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Prescribe Burn planned this week

Prescribed Fire Planned for Experimental Forest near Sunriver and La Pine

Depending upon conditions prescribed fire will happen during the next three days

 

BEND Given favorable conditions, Deschutes National Forest fuels specialists on the Bend-Ft. Rock Ranger District, in coordination with researchers from the Pacific Northwest Research Station, plan to conduct a prescribed fire southwest of Sunriver and northwest of La Pine, within and adjacent to the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest during the next three days (June 4 th, 5th, and 6th).

 

The 108 acre prescribed fire, named Extra Rx, is planned within the Lookout Mountain block of the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest, approximately 13 miles southwest of Sunriver, OR and 11 miles northwest of La Pine. Approximately 382 acres of the total 490 acres within this unit were burned earlier this year on May 14th, 15th, and 16th. This burn is being conducted as part of a research project designed to produce information pertinent to fuels management and forest insect and disease issues. An additional 158 acres adjacent to the Extra unit, within a unit known as "Nut", may also be burned over the next three days if conditions allow. Specific project objectives include reducing brush cover and reducing fuel loading while minimizing mortality.

Due to the location of these projects, the public in the Sunriver, La Pine, and Bend areas may see visible plumes of smoke and drivers may experience smoke impacts on nearby Forest roads. Wild River, Fall River Estates and Ponderosa Estates subdivisions are likely to experience some impacts from the smoke. Prescribed fire personnel will burn under the most favorable weather conditions to minimize smoke impacts. If smoke drifts onto roads, motorists should slow down, turn on headlights, and proceed with care.

Fuels specialists will follow policies outlined in the Oregon Department of Forestry smoke management plan, which governs prescribed fires, and attempts to minimize impacts to visibility and public health. For more information, please visit the "Prescribed Fires" link on the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center website, http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/fire/

Pringle Falls Experimental Forest is a diverse field laboratory within the Deschutes National Forest. It was formally established in 1931 as a center for silviculture, forest management, and insect and disease research in ponderosa pine forests east of the Oregon Cascade Range. Pringle Falls is maintained by the Pacific Northwest Research (PNW) Station for research and education in ecosystem structure and function and for demonstration of forest management techniques. It provides outstanding examples of undisturbed and managed ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and higher elevation mixed conifer forests occurring on 6,600-year-old aerially deposited Mount Mazama pumice and ash common throughout central and south-central Oregon.

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