PRESCRIBED FIRE IN SOUTHWEST IDAHO

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1 2016 PRESCRIBED FIRE IN SOUTHWEST IDAHO In southwest Idaho, public land managers work to: address public health and safety concerns; treat insect and disease infestations; reduce the risk of severe wildfires through vegetative treatments and prescribed fire; and achieve other natural resource objectives. Boise National Forest Prescribed Fire Hotline Southwest Idaho Prescribed Fire Website

2 2 Acres of Treatment Planned for 2016 Southwest Idaho Total Acres...27,153 Spring ,754 Fall ,399 Total Acres of National Fire Plan Mechanical Treatment Planned for Southwest Idaho for ,928 Idaho Department of Lands Total Acres... 4,052 Spring Fall ,052 Total Mechanical Treatment Acres...0 Bureau of Land Management Total Acres... 2,196 Spring ,800 Fall Total Mechanical Treatment Acres... 4,244 Total Chemical Treatment Acres... 1,824 Boise National Forest Total Acres... 7,442 Spring ,221 Fall ,221 Total Mechanical Treatment Acres... 5,684 Payette National Forest Total Acres...13,463 Spring ,733 Fall ,730 Total Mechanical Treatment Acres... 5,000 A look back on the 2015 fire season resulting in over 68, 151 fires totaling over 10,125,149 acres burned nationally (as compared to 2014, where 63,312 fires totaling 3,595,613 acres burned) emphasizes the need for continued forest restoration efforts. The need for reducing fuel is heightened, particularly in the wildland urban interface. The combined agencies in Southwest Idaho reduce fuel through prescribed burning and mechanical treatment every year; plans for this year include approximately 15,000 acres of mechanical and 27,000 acres of prescribed fire treatments. Public land managers use prescribed fire and mechanical clearing to reduce large wildfire severity, improve wildlife habitat, affect insect and disease infestation, and achieve other natural resource objectives. Substantial progress has been made, particularly in urban interface areas and the number of acres treated annually is steady. However, inherent challenges can prevent land managers from igniting prescribed fires on as many acres each year as they believe are necessary. These challenges include weather, the time required to complete prescribed fire plans, and the impacts of prescribed fires on air quality. Reducing hazardous fuels through prescribed fire and other tools is one of the key components of the National Fire Plan. Additionally, the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy looks Firefighter using prescribed fire to reduce vegetation (fuels) and eliminate brush piles after thinning activities. PRESCRIBED FIRES: Focusing on the Health and Resiliency of the Forest at a three pronged approach to reducing fires, with a focus on resilient landscapes, fire adapted communities, and effective fire response. The Strategy highlights that addressing wildfire is not simply a fire management, fire operations, or wildland-urban interface problem it is a larger, more complex land management and societal issue. The Strategy sets the vision for the next century to: Safely and effectively extinguish fire when needed; use fire where allowable; manage our natural resources; and as a Nation, [learn to] live with wildland fire. A key to this strategy is to reduce fuel concentrations and threats of uncharacteristic wildfires, especially in the wildland urban interface. Prescribed fires on federal lands must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires extensive analysis of the environmental, economic, and social impacts of projects with public participation. The Farm Bill and Healthy Forest Restoration Act provides an expedited process using collaboration and integration with such things as county hazard mitigation plans, state fuels committee priorities, and direct work with local communities. Fuel reduction management is a long-term proposition, but through annual programs combining federal, state and private land, and the people responsible or affected, the journey to return much of our forests to a historic condition and reduce the threat to life and property will begin to occur.

3 3 HAZARDOUS FUEL REDUCTION: Using Mechanical and Fire Treatments Together Near Communities at Risk Local public land managers are working diligently to manage vegetation (fuels) within fire-adapted ecosystems. This effort is an integral strategy to reduce the occurrence of uncharacteristic wildfires and reduce the threat of wildfire in the Wildland Urban Interface. With increased emphasis to protect wildland urban interface areas managers are using mechanical treatment methods in combination with prescribed fire. conditions and reduce fuel buildup. Prescribed fire alone as the first treatment is not always feasible because of the current density of the vegetation and fuel loading. Dense vegetation near the forest floor and extending up to the crowns of trees predisposes some areas to severe wildland fires, potentially leaving watersheds, species, and people at risk. When thickets of small understory trees fill a site, treatment often requires a combination of initial mechanical work followed by prescribed fire to safely or effectively use fire. Both prescribed fire and mechanical methods are being integrated to change fire behavior, making conditions safer for the public and firefighters when homes must be protected in the wildland urban interface. For several years, land managers primarily used management-ignited fires or prescribed burns in areas where vegetative conditions and fuel loading allowed successful and efficient use of fire. Prescribed fire is used to begin the restoration process in fire adapted ecosystems. These low intensity burns are used to maintain desired vegetative Fuels Treatment Projects - Boise District BLM 2016 A forested area prior to mechanical thinning. Photo of the same site after thinning and prescribed fire. The goal of thinning is to create open space between trees to reduce the intensity of a wildland fire.

4 4 DEQ PM 2.5 Monitors in Southwest Idaho Garden Valley Idaho City Ketchum McCall Twin Falls Boise Based on DEQ s analysis of pollutant indicators and meteorological conditions, a color-coded system notifies the public of the forecasted air quality condition for the following day. When air quality is expected to be good, a green alert is issued; when air quality is deteriorating, a yellow alert is issued; when air quality is poor and expected to deteriorate even further, a red alert is issued. Precautionary measures are described for each type of alert. Program Success South Mountain Prescribed Burn Bureau of Land Management The Boise Bureau of Land Management (BLM-Owyhee Field Office) implemented the first of five prescribed burns within the South Mountain Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Project by completing 85 acres of prescribed fire treatments. Within the unit a portion of the juniper was pre-treated by hand cutting and girdling trees to allow for the prescribed fire to carry across the landscape. The prescribed burn was completed in September of 2015, and lasted four operational periods (work shifts). The ARS South Mountain Project is a joint effort between the BLM, Agricultural Research Service (ARS), and private landowners. The ARS is studying hydrological response to juniper treatment in four watersheds of intermittent streams in the Juniper Creek drainage in the South Mountain area of western Owyhee County, Idaho. Since 2007, Completion of the burning to remove isolated islands of unburned juniper trees. the ARS has monitored these watersheds for weather effects, stream flow, suspended sediment, snow accumulation and melt, and western juniper distribution. Using prescribed fire, the effects of removing juniper on watershed function and sagebrush recovery can be assessed. The goal is to use landscape-scale juniper treatment that mimic natural processes to model and assess hydrologic and vegetative impacts. The data derived from pre- and post-treatment monitoring will be essential to test and validate the models that were developed and to predict potential treatment effects on water, vegetation, and soil resources in other systems affected by encroaching juniper. Results of this research and management collaboration can be used in subsequent environmental analyses and increase efficiency and success of juniper control treatments throughout the Intermountain West. For More Information Detailed descriptions of each project are available on our website ( along with a local contact number to discuss the project. Prescribed fires must be ignited under certain weather conditions, both to achieve natural resource management objectives and to meet air quality standards. It is difficult to determine exactly when they will occur. Burns planned for each day can be found on line at Individuals potentially affected by prescribed fires are encouraged to refer to this website on a daily basis during the spring and fall burning seasons.

5 5 Program Success Working Collaboratively to Plan Projects Utilizing Farm Bill Authorities Boise National Forest In 2014, the Boise National Forest, in coordination with Boise Forest Coalition, identified areas across the Forest to be included in the Governors Landscape designation under the Farm Bill. One of the areas identified involves land: east of Shafer Creek to Highway 21; north along the Boise Ridge road to the private property boundary; and south to Aldape Summit and Forest Road 260. This area is infested with mistletoe and comprised of dense stands of trees. There is an immediate need to restore the area to include healthy forest conditions and to increase the vegetation s resilience to Dwarf mistletoe in Douglas-fir disturbances - including insect, disease and wildfire severity. The project encompasses a large area that lies mostly within the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). The proposed treatments will include commercially harvesting material along with understory thinning to reduce the density and treat the current insect and disease infestations. This will create a more diverse tree composition and change the stand structure toward a more desired condition. Additionally, prescribed burning (pile burning, tree-well burning and under-burning) will be implemented to enhance and maintain the desired conditions created through mechanical treatments. The Bogus Basin Forest Health Restoration Project will compliment ongoing work on private lands. Planning has started on the first project known as: The Bogus Basin Forest Heath Project, which will include the lands adjacent to and within the Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area. The purpose of this project is to address public safety concerns within the recreation area and to treat uncharacteristic insect and disease infestation that is present, as well as, reduce potential wildfire severity. The second project is the Clear Creek-Robie Creek Farm Bill Forest Restoration Project. This project will treat the remaining lands east to Highway 21. The Forest Service is working to collect data for this project to help form the purpose and need and identify the types of treatments that are needed. For both these projects, planning is being developed with assistance from the Boise Forest Coalition (BFC), a citizen lead collation of members with a diversity of perspectives and interests on forest management. This collaboration is instrumental in producing a project that is implementable and that accomplishes a wide variety of objectives to enhance this area. The Forest Service and the BFC hope to begin public involvement on the Bogus Basin Forest Health Project soon and anticipate that implementation of the project may begin as early as fiscal year 2016.

6 6 Air Quality Standards in Place N atural resource agencies work with the National Weather Service to get real time conditions before igniting prescribed fires and those conditions are monitored closely to maximize smoke dispersion. Factors evaluated include wind direction and speed, atmospheric stability, and long-range weather forecasts. Yet even in favorable conditions, the air may still become smoky, especially at night. Often, although the air is smoky, it still meets federal and state air quality standards. Whenever possible, agencies provide advanced notice of potential burning plans so that persons with air quality sensitivities will be able to make personal adjustments. Idaho s Department of Environmental Quality s real-time air monitoring program collects real-time measurements of ambient levels of air contaminants at more than 20 sites throughout the state. Integrated sampling methods are used at another 10 sites. DEQ improved its website to provide the public with accurate information from its real-time air monitoring stations around the state. Real-time air monitoring data is located at For daily planned Ignitions go to: For specific project information go to the Southwest Idaho Prescribed Fire Website

7 7 Protecting Communities at Risk Mechanical treatments use chainsaws or other larger equipment to cut down, chip, or remove fuel, which is often followed by burning piled limbs or branches, or area burning (called underburning). Firewise is a national program for use by communities to reduce wildfire threats. It provides tools and techniques for citizens to use either on an individual basis or by the community as a whole. Integrating a mix of fuel treatments and a community based Firewise effort with private structures is the key to enhance community protection from wildfire. Using a variety of fuel treatments near community private structures, Firewise increases community protection from wildfire. This year s fuels reduction program mixes prescribed fire and mechanical treatments. For more information on the Firewise program log-on to: Firefighters using a mechanical chipper to chop branches and brush into small wood chips.

8 8 Smoke column from prescribed burn. Firefighters monitor the smoke dispersion and weather conditions frequently to ensure they meet appropriate burning parameters. Boise National Forest Prescribed Fire Hotline Southwest Idaho Prescribed Fire Website: Fuels Treatment Projects 2016 Payette National Forest