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The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Southwest District plans to burn slash piles on public lands managed by BLM at several locations in the Tres Rios Field Office as conditions allow throughout the winter. Slash piles are from previous treatments that were conducted on the Southwest District to reduce hazardous fuels to protect wildland-urban interface communities by providing defensible space adjacent to private property and removing invasive species to restore forest health. Prescribed pile burning locations include:

• Dawson Draw Piles, 15 miles northeast of Dove Creek, CO
• West Dolores Rim Piles, 6 miles east of Dove Creek, CO and Hwy 491
• Summit Lake Piles, south of Hwy 184 between Dolores and Mancos, CO
• Grandview Piles, 2 miles southeast of Durango and 1 to 2 miles north and west of Mercy Medical Center in the Grandview and 3 Springs area

“Burn plans for these projects contain specific weather conditions, moisture amounts, and air quality criteria that must be met to help ensure control of the burn and minimize the potential smoke impacts to local communities,” said Tyler Corbin, acting BLM Fire Management Specialist.

The prescribed pile burning may take multiple days to complete once initiated and will be monitored throughout the process to ensure public safety. While smoke may be visible in the area at times, most of the smoke will lift and dissipate during the warmest parts of the day. A detailed burn plan outlines the parameters for prescribed burns. 

“These burn projects will improve forest health and enhance wildlife habitat by reducing hazardous fuels. Burns will be conducted once favorable amounts of snow or rain are received, and areas have acceptable smoke dispersal to minimize potential smoke impacts to communities,” stated James Savage, BLM Supervisory Fuels Specialist.

The BLM obtained smoke permits from the Colorado State Air Pollution Control Division, which identify atmospheric conditions under which the burns can be implemented. Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. For more information, visit https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.

For information on prescribed burns, visit the Southwest District BLM Prescribed Fire InciWeb page (https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7852/) or follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SWD_Fire) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BLMMontroseFireUnit).

-BLM-

The Southwest Colorado BLM District covers the BLM Gunnison Field Office, Uncompahgre Field Office, and Tres Rios Field Office in the Colorado counties of Archuleta, Conejos, Delta, Dolores, Gunnison, Hinsdale, La Plata, Mesa, Mineral, Montezuma, Montrose, Ouray, Rio Grande, Saguache, San Juan, and San Miguel.

The BLM manages approximately 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The agency’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.