Fire officials from Madison Ranger District will soon begin prescribed fire activity beginning June 8 for approximately one week.
District personnel will be burning piles and jackpots of conifer slash material generated during aspen restoration projects in the southern Gravelly Mountains, primarily in the Bogus Basin and Lyons areas. Fire crews will burn under prescribed weather and fuel conditions and monitor these burns after ignition to ensure they stay with prescribed boundaries.
Aspen stands have been declining on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest (and much of the Northern Rockies) for the last 75 years due to multiple factors such as conifer encroachment and fire exclusion. These restoration projects support the Forest objective of increasing aspen health and productivity within lodgepole pine and other vegetation types on 67,000 acres as described in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Forest Land Management Plan.
Travelers and residents along Highway 287 between Cameron and Raynolds Pass may see smoke from these burns, however little impact from the smoke is expected. For more information contact the Madison Ranger District at 406-682-4253
