Prescribed Burns Around Big Horn Basin This Week

The Forest Service will be doing a prescribed burn near Dead Indian Campground today.
According to Kory Skates with the Shoshone National Forest, the 100-acre fire project is part of a conifer reduction plan, to reduce the number of Juniper in the area and encourage grass growth for the wintering elk herd. The Forest Service points out that this project will restore open grass & scrub communities as well as provide fuel breaks for private property & improvements.
Skates says the burn will not close any roads, but will produce a large plume of smoke, which could continue smoldering for a few days.
On the other side of the Bighorn Basin, the Powder River, Tongue, and Medicine Wheel Ranger Districts of the Bighorn National Forest have begun burning slash piles for the winter. Acting District Ranger Zachary Poff notes that these piles are created during timber sales or thinning projects to reduce hazardous fuels that could burn in a wildfire.
Poff points out that these piles are burned when sufficient snow cover is available, and may remain smoking for weeks, depending on the size of the piles.