JACKSON HOLE, WYO – With the sudden approach of fall, if not full-on winter, an interagency effort is underway to begin slash pile burning.
During the cooler, damper conditions autumn brings, the time is right for Teton Interagency Fire personnel to burn piles of slash created from fuels reduction and hazard tree projects within Grand Teton National Park and Bridger-Teton National Forest.
Don’t be surprised to see some smoke in the area, especially from places listed below:
- Along the Signal Mountain Road,
- Along the north side of Pacific Creek Road, after the road junction to Pacific Creek Trailhead,
- Near historic White Grass Dude Ranch,
- Near the Bar B C Ranch,
- East of Antelope Flats area, south of Shadow Mountain,
- Near the South Landing campsite on Jackson Lake south of Signal Mountain, and
- Southeast of Phelps Lake.
Additional fuels reduction work will be take place this fall north of the Pacific Creek Subdivision access road.
Within the Blackrock and Jackson Ranger Districts of the Bridger Teton National Forest, slash piles will be burned in the permitted areas of Jackson Hole Mountain and Snow King Mountain Ski Resorts, and the forested areas of Sheffield Campground and neighboring Jack Pine summer homes in the Granite Creek area. Additional areas on the forest with piles may also be targeted for burning this fall.
Most of these projects are designed to reduce vegetation and lower the risk of losing structures to a wildfire and create more open areas that will help moderate fire behavior during a wildfire. Some debris piles are from routine hazard tree removal, and trail and road maintenance activities.
Slash piles are created by thinning and removing lower limbs from trees, and removing hazard trees, as well as removing dead wood and brush from the forest floor. Firefighters place the slash in tepee-shaped piles and leave them to cure a season or two before burning. Creating this defensible space is essential to public safety and improving a neighborhood’s chance of surviving a wildfire. Fuels reduction work also increases firefighter safety in the event of a wildfire.
Smoke will be visible in the vicinity of burning slash piles. Ignitions will cease early in the afternoon each day to allow piles and fuels to burn down prior to evening inversions and reduce smoke impacts to the area. All piles will be monitored until they are declared out.
The thinning and removal of vegetation on private property, when accompanied with adjacent fuels reduction projects on public lands, helps create the necessary space to slow or stop the spread of wildfire and also protects homes from catching fire, either from direct flame contact or radiant heat. Home and property assessments are available through the Teton Area Wildfire Protection Coalition partners at no cost.
