South Monroe Prescribed Fire Update 11/15/2019
Since November 3, 2019, an estimated 9,100 acres have burned on the South Monroe Prescribed Fire Project. Overnight, crews monitored a small amount of growth near Barney Lake, due to evening winds on the ridge tops. Minimal growth was observed this morning due to a blanket of cloud cover over the area. Winds are beginning to pick up and helicopter bucket work has started, to secure the northeast corner of the project near Barney Lake down to Manning Creek. Looking ahead, no further ignitions are planned. Crews will be holding and securing project boundaries until forecasted moisture enters the area next week.
The Fishlake National Forest, shares the community’s concerns regarding health, visibility, and livability related to smoke produced by prescribed fires, and we know that reintroducing fire through prescribed burning is a critical step in forest restoration. Prescribed burns are conducted by professionals applying cutting-edge tools and decades of scientific and on-the-ground knowledge of the role of fire in our local forests. These professionals continually monitor weather conditions and how prescribed fires behave in an effort to minimize smoke impacts to communities.
It is important to know a great deal of work happens in the forest before a prescribed burn is conducted, including thinning out and removing small trees and brush. Completing these steps reduces the amount of material to burn, which in turn reduces the intensity of the fire and helps ensure that prescribed fire produces less smoke, achieves forest restoration goals, and can be safely controlled.
Prescribed burns must comply with Smoke Management Plans. This incorporates weather forecasting and a wide range of best practices for prescribed fire use intended to minimize smoke impacts to communities and people, particularly sensitive individuals such as the medically-compromised, elderly, infants and young children, and pregnant women.
Prescribed fire smoke impacts are typically at a much lower level than wildfire smoke and is short lived. Wildfire smoke, on the other hand, may last for days or weeks at much higher concentrations with much more severe air quality impacts for people.
For central Utah, our choice is not between “lots of fire” or “no fire”. We must choose between an unhealthy forest resulting from a century of nearly no natural, low-intensity fire, or a restored forest that is resilient to fire. Smoke is part of that choice. Limited smoke in the air in the spring and fall is often a sign that important forest restoration work is getting done in a forest near you. We ask for your understanding and support while we do this important work to ensure we have healthy forests and thriving communities now and for the future.
To better understand this project, please take some time to learn more about the Monroe Mountain Aspen Ecosystems Restoration Project by visiting the following Fishlake National Forest link:
https://usfs.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=6c17eb611f7a4578b5e28681ca684432
