FAIRBANKS - The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (BLM AFS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Alaska (USARAK), will burn woody debris piles created during a multi-year hazardous fuels reduction project on military training lands southwest of Delta Junction. Burning operations will start as early as Saturday, Feb. 8 and may continue, as conditions allow, until March 29.
The approximately 150 piles are primarily composed of cut spruce trees. Fifty of these piles are left from a fuel break constructed in the Donnelly Training Area West (DTAW) by shearing trees close to the ground, which reduces the wildfire hazard while leaving the underlying soil intact. Also targeted for burning are about 100 piles created by thinning a stand of white spruce adjacent to this shear blade line. A total of about 1,150 woody debris piles were created by USARAK range personnel when constructing a 21-mile fuel break in the DTAW stretching from the Delta River to Delta Creek. This firebreak was integral in managing the Oregon Lakes Fire last summer by helping firefighters keep the fire from moving north of Army training lands.
In accordance with an open burn approval issued by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), the piles will be ignited when weather conditions will minimize the impact of smoke on populated areas. Smoke may be visible west of Delta Junction from the Richardson Highway. The BLM AFS and USARAK work in conjunction with ADEC and the National Weather Service to forecast and monitor smoke conditions to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations governing air quality.
For more information about prescribed fire on the Donnelly Training Area and other U.S. Army Garrison Fort Wainwright lands, contact the BLM AFS Dispatch Center in Fairbanks at (907) 356-5555.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management
