As part of the Central Wasatch Watershed Restoration project, treatment of fuels in Parleys and Lambs canyons will continue with pile burning beginning Friday to improve forest and watershed health.
Fuels reduction projects use a number of methods to remove excess vegetation, which can lead to difficult-to-control wildfires. Along with reducing catastrophic wildfires, they can also improve overall forest health, and enhance wildlife habitat, fire officials say.
This project was hand-thinned using chainsaws, and the slash was stacked into piles for efficient burning. The thinning and mastication work was accomplished by contract crews, with oversight by the Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources personnel. The pile burning will be done by a combination of Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and contract labor.
Ignitions will only occur when forest managers are confident that the project can be undertaken safely and successfully, when conditions are right, officials say. Precipitation, fuel moisture, wind, temperature, air quality, and available firefighter staffing are all considered. The recent and predicted moisture helps contain the piles, and firefighters monitor the area during and after the burn.
Smoke, flames, and glowing embers are often visible, and are a normal part of slash pile burning operations. Recognizing that prescribed fire also adds smoke to the atmosphere, the U.S. Forest Service and its partners say they remain committed to minimizing smoke impacts. Project managers say they have planned this prescribed fire project in accordance with all applicable air quality regulations.
“This is important work to improve the health of our forest, protect our watersheds and safeguard our communities and region from the threat of catastrophic wildfire we’ve seen, and have been impacted by from across the globe,” said Carl Fisher, executive director of Save Our Canyons. “There’s no question this work is intensive, but we’ve already seen regeneration of aspens that have been encroached upon by conifers, due to the absence of fire from the landscape. Fire plays a critical role in our forests, our object is to help the ecosystem thrive, and do better as we learn more through community engagement, research, monitoring, and science.”