Prescribed Fire

March 13, 2024 — The Colville National Forest will begin to carry out planned prescribed fire operations as early as the 16^th of March, as conditions allow.

Successful application of prescribed fire as a tool to return our landscape to a healthy state can only be accomplished through coordination with a wide range of partners, stakeholders, and rights-holders. The forest is proud to work with a broad coalition including the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, local authorities, and private land holders.

The Colville National Forest employs many tools to return our departed landscapes to an appropriate range of historical variability. This is a fire adapted landscape, and prescribed fire provides important ecological benefits to the landscape when conditions allow its application. 

Wildfire Crisis Strategy

The Forest Service launched a 10-year strategy to address the wildfire crisis in the places where it poses the most immediate threats to communities. The strategy, called “Confronting the Wildfire Crisis: A Strategy for Protecting Communities and Improving Resilience in America’s Forests,” combines a historic investment of congressional funding with years of scientific research and planning into a national effort that will dramatically increase the scale of forest health treatments over the next decade. 10 landscapes were selected to receive $131 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) investment to begin implementation of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy in 2022. In early 2023, the Colville National Forest was selected among 11 landscapes to receive additional funding. The first year, fiscal year 2023, the Forest will receive $2.1 million. 

Fire Information Resources 

• Prescribed Fire Activity

  

  See planned, active, and complete burns

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• InciWeb - Wildfire Info

  

  Wildfire information and map

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• NEWICC Webpage

  

  Local, interagency communication channel

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Air Quality Resources

Smoke 101 and differences between wildfire and prescribed fire smoke in the western U.S.

Abstract

An often-overheard phrase, "there is no future without smoke," describes fire, and associated smoke, as an ecological process inextricably tied to Western forests. While fire can provide many benefits such as reducing fuels and renewing forests, smoke from fires poses a serious challenge to public health, land managers, and air quality regulators. So, can we reduce these challenges?... Read More  

Una frase que se escucha a menudo, “no hay futuro sin humo”, describe el fuego, y el humo asociado, como un proceso ecológico indisolublemente ligado a los bosques del Oeste. Si bien el fuego puede proporcionar muchos beneficios, como la reducción de combustibles y la renovación de los bosques, el humo de los incendios plantea un grave desafío para la salud pública, los administradores de tierras y los reguladores de la calidad del aire. Entonces, ¿podemos reducir estos desafíos?... Leer más

• AirNow

  

   

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• PurpleAir

  

   

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• IQAir

  

   

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The Story of Prescribed Fire - A vital part of Western landscapes

Fire is one of the most important natural processes across the West. After many years of fire exclusion, a dry ecosystem that needs periodic fire becomes unhealthy. Trees are stressed by overcrowding; fire-dependent species disappear; and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous. However, the right fire at the right place at the right time helps maintain healthy forests, communities and watersheds.