Boundary Road Fuels Reduction Project
Map showing location of Boundary Road Fuels Reduction Project.
The 4,378-acre Boundary Road Fuels Reduction Project is located west of La Pine on the Deschutes National Forest north and south of Burgess Road (see map to left). The project area falls within the Greater La Pine and Upper Deschutes River Community Wildfire Protection Plan areas.
Due to decades of fire suppression and previous land management activities, the lodgepole and ponderosa pine trees in this area have grown unnaturally dense limiting sunlight and nutrients that promote healthy tree growth while also creating dense vegetation that poses an increased risk for catastrophic wildfire. In addition, drought conditions have exacerbated insect and disease infestations causing large-scale mortality and heavy vegetation loading.
What Are We Doing?
The Boundary Road Fuels Reduction Project will enhance forest resilience to insect and disease while reducing the wildfire risk the adjacent communities through the actions, including:
- Commercial Timber Harvest / Small Diameter Thinning Thinning reduces tree density to improve nutrients and growth for remaining trees while reducing the chance for a wildfire to establish in the crowns of trees. Once a wildfire burns into the tree canopy, the fire is much harder for firefighters to stop. Larger trees are often removed using machinery through commercial timber harvest while smaller trees can be thinned by chainsaw.
- Mowing & Mastication Mowing and mastication reduces the concentration of small trees, shrubs and brush decreasing wildfire risk. In the event of a wildfire, flame lengths typically remain lower decreasing opportunities for fire to establish in branches and thus moving into the tree canopy.
- Pile Burning Pile burning removes concentrations of leftover, unusable vegetation that remains after thinning operations. Firefighters ignite piles in the late fall and winter when precipitation and cooler temperatures prevent ignitions from spreading beyond the pile. Firefighters monitor piles until they declare the piles out.
- Prescribed Burning During understory prescribed burning, firefighters apply low-intensity fire across the forest floor within a designated area that has control features constructed around it. Prescribed burning restores low-intensity fire to the fire-dependent ecosystem while reducing wildfire risk. Prescribed burns, which are primarily conducted in spring and fall, are carefully planned and implemented under specific conditions of temperature, wind, and humidity. Learn more about how a prescribed burn is conducted.
- Shaded Fuel Breaks Shaded fuel breaks are strategically constructed along roadways that can serve as potential places to stop a wildfire. The 200-foot buffers use a combination of thinning, mowing/mastication, pile burning and prescribed burning to construct areas with limited vegetation creating an opportunity to slow fire spread, protect communities and promote firefighter safety.
Project Timeline
- Forest Service crews are conducting preparation work, including surveying, timber cruising, and flagging. Evidence of this work may include flagging, paint marked trees and blue and white tags.
- Mowing and mastication operations could begin as early as this summer.
- Small diameter tree thinning using chainsaws is slated to begin as early as this fall.
- Firefighters will conduct pile burning in the fall.
- Commercial timber harvest activities may begin following an awarded contract. Mechanical tree thinning, road maintenance and log truck traffic will be visible in the project area.
- Mowing and mastication, small diameter tree thinning, and pile burning will be ongoing.
- Prescribed burning may begin as early as spring 2027.
- Work will be ongoing in the project area through 2035.
- Commercial timber harvest activities and pile burning will be ongoing through 2030.
- Mowing and mastication and small diameter tree thinning will be ongoing through 2033.
- Prescribed burning will be ongoing through 2035.