A 900-acre prescribed burn has been organised in the Red Mountain, near the Sunnyside trail. The burn is intended to improve habitat quality for wildlife, including the local elk herd, while also reducing the dry, aging vegetation that could fuel a large wildfire.
The burn will be a piece of valleywide wildfire mitigation and preparation strategy that Roaring Fork Valley Wildfire Collaborative aims to stitch together with partner agencies, including the U.S. Forest Service and local fire districts.
The Forest Service began preparations for the prescribed burn last fall, when crews cut about 24 acres of brush and other vegetation to create control lines near the Sunnyside hiking trail. Forest Service officials will wait for ideal conditions, stipulated in a burn plan for the area, before any fire is ignited.
Officials have stated that the ground and vegetation will need to be dry enough to carry moderate-intensity flames, while there is still snow on ridgelines and surrounding the targeted area to contain the burn.
Dan Nielsen, Forest Fuels Program Manager for the White River National Forest shared: “We wait for the best environmental window we can.
“It could be that sometimes these projects don’t happen because of things out of our control. We’re trying to implement this in the spring, late March into April.
“Or it could be a really snowy March and then we push. There’s a lot of planning and we won’t do something if it isn’t the right window.
“When you have high values at risk, we take more precautions before we implement or put any fire on the ground.
“That’s how we keep it within its box and don’t get unwanted spread outside of the unit.”
The burn plan sets forth a specific set of conditions, a prescription, including factors such as the moisture level of the vegetation that will fuel the fire, temperature, wind direction and speed, relative humidity and the degree of slope on which the fire will burn.
An on-site weather station gives real-time data as the snow melts, helping the Forest Service model how a fire might move across the landscape and plan for the ideal circumstances to reduce hazardous fuels and promote new vegetative growth.
David Boyd, Public Affairs Officer for the White River National Forest said: “When we go in and burn brush and understory with a prescribed fire, we’re shooting for a moderate intensity fire that will burn in a mosaic pattern, which means it burns in patches that creates a lot of edge that wildlife like.
“When it’s a moderate burn, the vegetation responds right away with new, young, nutritious vegetation that wildlife really seeks out.”
The timing of the prescribed burn needs to align with weather and climate conditions, as well as with the needs of the animals that the fire is meant to help.
Phil Nyland, Wildfire Biologist for the White River National Forest said: “The timing of this project isw critical to minimizing impacts to wildfire.
“The reason we burn in the spring is to minimize potential impacts to animals.”
The period between winter snow and spring green, when animals begin to give birth to and raise their young, is ideal.
“As winter transitions to spring and we get into the birthing period, we absolutely do not want to be disturbing those animals with fire and mechanical treatments,” Nyland said.
In late March and early April, birds and hibernating animals have not yet returned, and patches of snow can provide refuge for animals that are in the area during the fire.
Nyland said he has been on prescribed fires before where deer and bighorn sheep have watched the flames from within 200 yards without seeming stressed.
He added: “Fire is a natural part of their landscape. They tend not to respond the way humans might.”
The Forest Service’s environmental assessment notes that reducing fuels and creating breaks in vegetation can lessen the spread, duration and severity of wildfires.
Aspen Fire Chief, Rick Ballentine said in a statement: “Wildfire is an undeniable reality in the West, and we have two choices: Sit back and wait for a disaster, or take decisive action to manage risk.
“This prescribed burn is a strategic, carefully planned effort to reduce fuel loads before a wildfire strikes on its own terms.
The burn will be a piece of valleywide wildfire mitigation, intended to improve habitat quality for wildlife and reducing the dry vegetation that could fuel a large wildfire.
Correction: A previous version of this article featured a link to the ski resort Red Mountain in British Columbia, which has no connection to the project being discussed.
