CANON CITY, Colo., September 18, 2006…Crews from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Royal Gorge Field Office and the USDA-Forest Service, Pike and San Isabel National Forests will be conducting several prescribed burns in southern Colorado throughout the coming weeks. Burning will be conducted into the fall as long as weather permits.

The main objective of these prescribed fires is to reduce fire behavior such that unplanned fires in these areas would burn at a lower intensity by reducing dense vegetation and accumulated fuels. These burns will also improve wildlife habitat and overall forest health.

In many cases, the prescribed burning is a final step in completing hazardous fuels reduction projects under the National Fire Plan. Some of these projects were started just recently and some 3 to 5 years ago.

Previously implemented treatments incorporating mechanical or hand thinning, tree removal, and multiple prescribed fires that take out the down wood, small trees, and limb up the larger trees will reduce the probability of passive and active crown fires in the treated areas.

Weather and fuel conditions will be closely monitored, and burns will only be initiated if on-site conditions are within established parameters for safe and effective fires.

Each prescribed burn conducted by the agencies has a detailed prescribed fire burn plan developed in advance, along with appropriate smoke permits obtained from state agencies. Prescribed fires are one of many tools public land managers use to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires while improving wildlife habitat and overall land health.

The areas slated for treatment are:

Box Creek: 100-150 acres of Sagebrush and Grass on BLM and San Isabel National Forest lands in Lake County approximately 6 miles south of Leadville, Colorado;

Black Mountain: 800-900 acres on the San Isabel National Forest. Fuels are primarily ponderosa pine, grasses, and pinion and juniper fuels in Huerfano County. The project area is located 6 miles north of Gardner;

Lakemoor West: 200 acres on BLM public lands, ponderosa pine, juniper thinning slash and grasses in Teller County. The project area is located 40 miles northeast of Canon City and 17miles south of Florissant, Colorado;

Rice Gulch: 270 acres on BLM public lands, light ponderosa pine thinning slash, grasses, juniper and pinion pine in Fremont County. The project area is located 18 miles northwest of Canon City, Colorado;

Arkansas Mountain: 100 acres on BLM public lands in ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir with light slash in Fremont County. This project area is located approximately 45 miles west of Canon City and 17 miles east of Howard, Colorado;

Indian Creek: 500 acres of ponderosa pine, gambel oak brush and mixed conifer fuels on USFS and BLM lands located in Huerfano County. Project area is approximately 9 miles southwest of La Veta, Colorado.

Other projects include 500 acres of pile burning on several projects including: Deer Haven, Arkansas Mountain, Poverty Mountain, Rice Gulch, Sullivan Creek piles and Turkey Gulch piles all located in Fremont County on BLM lands, 4 Elks Subdivision in Chaffee County on both USFS and BLM lands, Black Mountain piles on USFS lands in Huerfano County, and Lakemoor West on BLM lands located in Teller County.