Tahoe National Forest will begin a prescribed pileburn between Celestial Valley and Camptonville, Calif. Fire and fuels personnel plan to prescribed burn up to 154 acres starting today, Jan. 10 through Monday, Jan. 15, conditions permitting. Smoke impacts will be minimal, visible from Highway 49, Celestial Valley, Pike and surrounding areas. 

Trapper Project Pileburn
Yuba River Ranger District
Legal Location: T18N R8E Section 22 (F70) T18N R9E Section 24 & 13 (F05)
Acres: up to 154
Ignition Dates: Jan. 10 - Jan. 15, conditions permitting

As conditions and weather dictates, we will be looking to continue and/or start burn operations in these project areas: (Starting Wednesday 1/10/24)

Larimer County

• Thompson River
  • 6 miles east of Estes Park Map
  • Hwy 36 and FSR 124 near Estes Park Map
• Cameron Peak
  • Deadman Map
• Cherokee Park
  • Devils Creek Map Map

Grand County

• Fair Tracts, east of Tabernash: Map

Gilpin County

• Yankee Hill Area Map
• Lump Gulch Area (Gilpin County) Map

Boulder County

• Forsythe Area Map
  • 2 miles north of Rollinsville, just north of Shoshone Road Map
  • Gilpin County south side of Gilpin Road, 3 miles south of Rollinsville on west side of Highway 119 Map

Conditions are looking good today for firefighters to conduct prescribe pile burning on BLM Tres Rios Field Office manage lands adjacent to Durango, CO. Currently, both Edgemont and Grandview project sites have six to twelve inches of snow on the ground. Firefighters plan to burn 65 machine piles north of Edgemont Highlands subdivision, along with 2000 hand piles in the Grandview area southeast of downtown Durango on January 10th to 11th. 

Edgemont piles are limbs and tops of mostly Ponderosa trees left over from a logging operation from a hazardous fuel’s reduction project. Grandview piles are piles are composed of predominately Pinyon and Juniper slash from a big game habitat improvement project and a hazardous fuels reduction project.

More snow is expected to accumulate in the Durango area on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Firefighters will be monitoring the weather to reduce smoke impacts and to ensure control of the burn. Each project area has its own burn plan that outlines the parameters for prescribed burning with specific criteria regarding weather conditions and air quality. Smoke may be visible from Highways 160, 550, 240, Edgemont Highlands Subdivision and Durango area. 

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).

On January 10th and 11th, 2024, BLM Colorado Southwest District plans to burn 65 machine piles on BLM land north of Edgemont Highlands subdivision, along with 2000 hand piles in the Grandview area southeast of downtown Durango. 

Both locations currently have six to twelve inches of snow with more expected to accumulate on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Firefighters will be monitoring the weather to reduce smoke impacts and to ensure control of the burn. Each project area has its own burn plan that outlines the parameters for prescribed burning with specific criteria regarding weather conditions and air quality. Smoke may be visible from Highways 160 and 550 and Durango area. 

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).

Over the last couple of days, firefighters were able to burn 20 piles of logging slash from a 425-acre fuels reduction treatment at West Dolores Rim project area on Tres Rios Field Office BLM managed lands located southeast of Dolores, CO. This completes burning in the area for the winter. Piles were from a mechanical treatment in 2022 to assist in restoring big game habitat and reduce hazardous fuels. Firefighters plan to burn the existing piles from 2023 treatment next winter once they are cured. Burn areas will be seeded in early spring with a native grass and forb mix. There will be some residual smoke for a few days as piles smolder and burn out.

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

Tahoe National Forest Yuba River Ranger District fire personnel plan to burn up to 2 acres of handpiles today, Jan. 9, 2024. Smoke impacts will be minimal, visible from Loganville, Sierra City and HWY 49.

Tahoe National Forest Sierraville Ranger District plans to pileburn up to 242 acres in Carmen Valley, south of Portola Calif. Ignition dates are planned for Jan. 9 through Jan. 12, 2024. Ignitions may take 2-5 days. Smoke production could continue two to four days after ignitions are complete. Smoke may be visible from Sierra Valley and Portola, Calif.

The Yuba River Ranger District ignited 10 acres of machine piles at Garden Point, located on the north side of New Bullards' Bar Reservoir. Smoke may be visible from the Camptonville and Pendola areas.

Conditions are good, especially with additional snow overnight for firefighters to continue prescribe burning at West Dolores Rim project area this afternoon. They plan to burn approximately ten large logging slash piles. Project area is on BLM managed lands southeast of Dolores, CO. Firefighters accomplished 275 acres of piles at project area yesterday.

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. 

Expect columns of smoke in the area, due to the large piles burning. Most of the smoke will lift and dissipate during the warmest parts of the day. Smoke will be visible 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).

BOULDER, Colo. (January 7, 2024) – The Lump Gulch Fire is 100% contained and controlled. The fire is no longer producing smoke or heat after crews from the Forest Service, Timberline, Nederland, and The Nature Conservancy used a skid steer to help open up the pile and applied 6,000 gallons of water.

The Lump Gulch Fire was not part of current pile burning operations in the area. The cause is currently unknown and under investigation.

The U.S. Forest Service, Timberline Fire Protection District, and Nederland Fire Protection District responded to the Lump Gulch Fire at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 6, 2024 after receiving reports of smoke in Gilpin County, Boulder Ranger District, near the intersection of Gilpin Road and Highway 119. Crews discovered a machine pile 60 feet by 60 feet burning in a landing on Forest Service land and began suppressing the fire.