Fire
Thank you for visiting our Fire Management webpage. Our page is currently under construction and more information will be added as content is developed. We plan to include information on:
- The natural role of wildfires in our ecosysytems
- Wildfire prevention
- Numerous wildfire suppression resources here on the Forest
- Fire information - where to go for information on active wildfires
Currently, this page includes information about the forest's Prescribed Fire program. Please scroll down to read.
Information about active wildfires on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests is NOT available on this page - for wildfire information, please visit our Fire Information Page, available through the forest homepage.
Prescribed Fire on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
Prescribed fire is an important tool used by the Forest Service to help create and sustain healthy and resilient forests. Planned ignitions are conducted when weather and fuel conditions become optimal for achieving management objectives while minimizing smoke impacts to surrounding communities. Weather and fuel conditions are closely monitored and the prescribed burning program will continue as long as conditions remain favorable. Check out the different headings below to learn more about why the Forest Service conducts prescribed fires, as well as current prescribed burning plans for the forest.
A prescribed burn above the community of Orogrande. 2019 USFS Photo by Tom McLeod
Why Are Prescribed Fires Ignited on the Wildlands?
Fire has always played an integral role in the varied ecosystems on the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests (NPClwNFs). Many species of vegetation require occasional fires for their health and sustainability. Over the past 100 years, humans have altered this natural vegetation management tool by suppressing wildfires because of values such as homes, great landscape views, and water sources. The NPClwNFs is reintroducing fire back into many of these ecosystems as a tool to accomplish numerous management objectives.
Prescribed fires, often combined with mechanical and/or hand thinning treatments, are effective land management tools frequently used to reduce the accumulation of hazardous fuels, including old and dense vegetation. Minimizing hazardous fuels reduces fire intensity and the risk of major loss as a result of unwanted wildland fires. In addition, this action minimizes the risk to firefighter and public safety. Additional benefits include improved wildlife habitat and long-term sustainability of healthier ecosystems and the services they provide.
How Are Prescribed Burns Conducted?
Public safety is always the first consideration of all fire management operations, including prescribed burns. Each prescribed burn has a detailed plan developed from comprehensive planning efforts conducted long before project activities are initiated. This burn plan provides guidelines for what objectives are desired, when and where to burn, under what conditions to burn, acceptable fire behavior, staff organization, contingency plans for fire control, smoke management, and public concerns. Containment lines that may utilize roads and natural features are then determined and established, if needed. Some prescribed burns do not have containment lines based on the size and complexity of the operation. Finally, highly trained fire management personnel carefully apply fire to the treatment areas and closely monitor the fire’s progress to ensure 1) the fire burns where it is intended, and 2) the fire is meeting, or will meet, the planned objectives. Frequent adjustments to ignition patterns are sometimes needed to ensure the best opportunity for project objectives to be met. Crews remain on-site long after the flames have subsided to ensure the fire remains contained. In some cases, the fire is allowed to burn more naturally and firefighters are not directly on the fire’s edge.
Types of Burns: Broadcast, Brush Disposal, and Pile Burns
Fire managers on the NPClwNFs utilize three primary prescribed fire techniques: broadcast burning, brush disposal, and pile burning.
Broadcast burning involves the widespread application of fire to ground vegetation - called surface fuels - during a time when that vegetation is readily available to burn, but not dry and volatile. Spring and fall are the most common times for this type of burning.
Brush disposal, or BD, burns take place in logging units after the harvestable logs have been removed. Fire is applied to the remaining surface fuels to reduce the debris accumulations and replenish nutrients in the soils.
Pile burning is utilized as a result of both hand and mechanical thinning operations. Crews cut small trees and limb up live trees to reduce ladder fuels - vegetation that connects surface fuels to trees and allows fire to climb from the ground level higher into the treetops. These limbs and small trees are piled by hand or by use of machinery into strategic locations so subsequent prescribed fire won’t ignite trees or other vegetation. Fire managers typically burn these piles when the area has had significant precipatation. This nearly eliminates chances for ground fuels to ignite and provides for relatively easy containment. Fall and winter are the most common times for this type of burning.
A low intensity fire on the 2019 Preacher Dewey brush disposal burn. USFS photo by Neal Cox
What Can I Expect to See?
After the burn is completed, the average eye might see the area as simply black and barren - but take a moment to look closer. A quick examination of a grassy area will likely reveal the unburned bottoms of grass stems now free to grow, uninhibited by years of dead grass layers that may have been robbing the plant of water, nutrients and light. In some cases, one might see larger numbers of small trees and ladder fuels which have been killed by the prescribed fire. Prescribed burns are used to thin out ladder fuels and overly-dense patches of small trees. Prescribed fire is also designed to kill unhealthy and often bug-infested trees and brush which are detrimental to the health of the ecosystem. In those cases, one might see larger swaths of fire-killed trees that will restart the natural progression of the ecosystem. Our suggestion is to watch the landscape rebound from this natural change agent and revel in the fact that you are witness to an event that has shaped this land for thousands of years.
What About the Smoke?
Smoke from prescribed fires can often be seen for many miles. Fire management specialists work diligently to adhere to smoke management regulations set forth by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. In addition, we recognize that smoke from our fires on the NPClwNFs can impact some valleys in Montana, so we also work with Montana Department of Environmental Quality.
One primary objective when land managers conduct fuels reduction projects is to reduce the possibility of large wildfires which can, among other things, generate dangerous amounts of smoke. The amount and duration of lingering smoke created from small-scale prescribed fires is minimal compared to the numerous dense smoke-filled days of many summers, caused by massive wildfires throughout the west.
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests Prescribed Fire Project Information
When possible, the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests shares prescribed burn information via news release and/or social media messages. Stay tuned to this website for prescribed burn information, as well as the forest's Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The pages below list current-year prescribed burn plans on the different districts across the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. Please note these plans are subject to change; for the latest information, please contact the subject matter expert listed on each district's page.