Those traveling near the Tobacco Root Mountains this week may see a little smoke in the air as the Bureau of Land Management’s Dillon Field Office conducts prescribed burns. The exact timing depends on weather and fuel conditions.

The prescribed burns—totaling 2,190 acres—are planned for areas near Wet Georgia, Horse, and Granite creeks.

Smoke may be visible to the public from U.S. Highway 287, State Highway 287, County Route 248, and the communities of Ennis, Virginia City, Alder, Sheridan, Twin Bridges and Dillon.

The primary objectives of the planned burn treatments are to reduce fuel loading in high-priority wildland urban interface and reduce conifer expansion into sagebrush grasslands.

The burns will be implemented and closely monitored by fire managers from the BLM, Forest Service, and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

For more information, contact the Dillon Field Office at (406) 683-8000.

Original source can be found here.