Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND — The Bureau of Land Management Wind River/Bighorn Basin District tentatively plans to conduct three prescribed fire projects within the Cody and Worland field office areas this spring. These projects are contingent upon fuel moisture and weather meeting optimal treatment conditions.
“The prescribed fire projects 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 Fire Management Officer Rich Zimmerlee.
The projects may be conducted March through May in the following locations:
Hooligan Springs: Approximately 100 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 200 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 Bighorn Mountains, northwest of Cottonwood Canyon.
Removing overstory shrubs and trees through the use of prescribed fire opens up areas for grasses and forbs and provides for new growth with more palatable and nutritious forage. Removing understory vegetation through prescribed fire reduces encroaching, competing species and clears the area of heavy fuels, which improves the overall health of the area.
For more information, contact Rance Neighbors at 307-347-5100 or Tim Haas at 307-578-5938. For more information on prescribed fire and vegetation management on public lands, visit http://www.forestsandrangelands.gov/.