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Show Prescribed Fires Lit To Improve Forest Conditions : PANGUITCH - Two prescribed pre-scribed fires have been conducted conduct-ed northeast of Panguitch in the Dixie National Forest to improve wildlife habitat and vegetative conditions, says Carl Guillette, Powell District Ranger. The fires, which together have burned about 9000 acres, have removed piny-bn piny-bn and juniper trees in sage and grassland areas and stimulated Suckering in aspen stands. One fire is in the Adams Head area and the other in Sanford Creek. - Unusually warm, dry and windy weather increased fire activity last week, causing fire to cross a containment line on the Sanford Fire last Friday. Forty firefighting personnel worked to contain the spots and prevent the fire from advancing. No private property or structures were threatened. Aerial reconnaissance mapping map-ping shows that roughly 70 percent per-cent of the 9,000 acres within the prescribed fire area have burned. No commercial timber is located in the area planned for burning. The fire burned in pinyonjuniper, sage, aspen and mixed conifers, creating a mosaic mosa-ic of burned and unburned areas that replicates the burn pattern of natural fires. The prescribed fire projects are part of the National Fire (See FIRES on page 3-A) Fires From Front Page Plan, says Guillette. The Plan was developed after the catastrophic cata-strophic fires of 2000 to reduce fuels in areas that are overgrown or have an unbalanced mix of species. Guillette says prescribed fires have improved watershed, vegetation, vege-tation, timber and wildlife habitat habi-tat on the Powell Ranger District. No new prescribed fire ignitions will take place until more favorable prescribed burning burn-ing conditions develop, probably proba-bly this fall. For further information, call Brenda Wilmore at the Powell Ranger District at 435-676-9300. |
