Single Publication

If conditions allow firefighters plan to continue prescribe pile burning on February 28, 2024, in the Dawson project area on Tres Rios Field Office BLM-managed lands located 15 miles northeast of Dove Creek, CO in Disappointment Valley. 

Piles are from a previous treatment in the Dawson Research Units. These units are a part of a pinyon-juniper woodland research being conducted on the response to thinning by studying the growth rates, understory response and soil moisture. Treatments also assist in reducing hazardous fuels to protect wildland-urban interface communities and to restore forest health.

The project area has a detailed burn plan that outlines the parameters for prescribed burning and contains specific criteria regarding weather conditions and air quality that must be met to ensure control of the burn, as well as minimizing the potential smoke impact to local communities. 

The prescribed burn may take multiple days to complete once initiated and will be monitored after completion 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. Expect visible smoke in the area for several days after each burn is completed as vegetation in the interior continues to smolder. 

For more information on smoke, 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