JACKSON, Wyo. — Throughout the year, the U.S. Forest Service periodically conducts thousands of prescribed burns on public lands.
In 2019 alone, several federal agencies including the Forest Service, conducted a total of 151,542 prescribed burns, which accounted for just over six million acres burned that year.
Despite some general confusion, fire can be good for people and the land. Trees can get stressed by overcrowding; fire-dependent species can disappear, and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous.
The U.S. Forest Service describes a prescribed fire or burn as “a planned fire to meet management objectives.”
The right fire at the right time can:
- Reduce hazardous fuels, protecting human communities from extreme fires
- Minimizes the spread of pest insects and disease
- Removes unwanted species that threaten species native to an ecosystem
- Provides forage for game
- Improves habitat for threatened and endangered species
- Recycles nutrients back to the soil
- Promotes the growth of trees, wildflowers and other plants
The Forest Service manages prescribed fires and even some wildfires to benefit natural resources and reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires in the future. The agency also uses hand tools and machines to thin overgrown sites in preparation for the eventual fire.
Specialists also write burn plans for prescribed fires. Burn plans identify – or prescribe – the best conditions under which trees and other plants will burn to get the best results safely. Burn plans consider temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation, and conditions for the dispersal of smoke.
In the coming weeks, the Jackson Ranger District of the Bridger Teton National Forest will be conducting a prescribed fire in the Upper Gros Ventre River Drainage in the Haystack Fork and Little Bear Paw Fork of Slate Creek. Fuels conditions, current and future weather, along with air quality will be monitored closely during and leading up to the burn window. Up to 557 acres will be targeted for aspen regeneration to benefit a variety of wildlife.
