Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest announces prescribed burns

‘Tis the season.

Smoke billowed Wednesday from prescribed burning south of Butte.

The sources included burning slash piles collected from ongoing work to thin timber in the watershed of the Basin Creek Reservoir. That work is driven by concerns that a catastrophic wildfire could choke the reservoir with debris, sediment and ash and render it unusable for years.

The Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest announced earlier this week that prescribed burn operations would begin “as weather and fuels conditions allow.”

Forest officials said regional prescribed burns in the Butte Ranger District could include:

• Red Rocks project: At Saratoga Trailhead area, off the Bernice exit of Interstate 15, between Basin and Elk Park. Minimal smoke impacts are anticipated.
• Basin Creek fuel-break project: 15 miles south of Butte at the Highland Trailhead. Minimal smoke impacts are anticipated; however, smoke may be visible from Butte.
• Basin Creek Good Neighbor Authority project: 10 miles south of Butte in the Basin Creek watershed. Minimal smoke impacts are anticipated; however, smoke may be visible from Butte.

A host of other prescribed burns are planned across the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest.

They include burns on the Pintler Ranger District and Wisdom Ranger District in addition to the Butte Ranger District.

The U.S. Forest Service said prescribed burns are carefully planned and monitored and designed to minimize smoke impacts.

The Forest Service says such burns yield a variety of benefits.

“Prescribed fires help reduce surface fuels, increasing landscape wildfire resilience and reducing the risk of uncharacteristic wildfire effects on the landscape,” the agency says. “In addition, they improve and maintain forest health and wildlife habitat and eliminate invasive species. The forest ecosystems in the Northern Rockies have evolved with fire, with many of them relying on periodic fires to establish and maintain forest health.”