BLM to conduct prescribed burns in the Big Horn Basin this spring

WORLAND — The Bureau of Land Management Wind River/Bighorn Basin District tentatively plans to conduct three prescribed burns within the Cody and Worland field office areas this spring. Burns are contingent upon fuel moisture and weather meeting optimal burn conditions.

“The prescribed burns are designed to enhance rangeland and woodland vegetation health, improve wildlife habitat, increase livestock and wildlife forage and improve distribution, and reduce the hazardous build-up of fuels which lessens the probability of a severe wildfire,” said BLM Interim Fire Management Officer Rance Neighbors.

The prescribed burns may be conducted in March and April in the following locations:

Hooligan Springs: Approximately 300 acres of juniper, timber litter and mountain shrub in ponderosa pine understory will be targeted. The project area is located in the Renner Wildlife Habitat Management Area 10 miles north of Ten Sleep.

Medicine Lodge: Mosaic sagebrush burning, encroaching conifer reduction and aspen enhancement are the goals on a little more than 200 acres of BLM and Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) lands. The 3,000-acre project area lies approximately 5 miles northeast of Hyattville in the Medicine Lodge Wildlife Habitat Management Area.

West Slope: Approximately 100 acres of juniper will be targeted to continue long-term improvements of big game habitat conditions in cooperation with WGFD. This project is 15 miles east of Lovell on the west slope of the Big Horn Mountains, south of Cottonwood Canyon.

Burning overstory shrubs and trees also opens up areas for grasses and forbs and young, more palatable and nutritious, shrubs and aspen. Burning understory vegetation removes encroaching, competing species and clears the area of heavy fuels, which improves the overall health of the area.

For more information, contact Neighbors or Andy Rothleutner at 307-347-5100. For more information on prescribed burning and vegetation management on public lands, visit http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/.