Burning of natural debris at Big Hollow in Rush Valley is expected to be completed Saturday. The pile burn is part of
a three-area project by the BLM, which also included burning at Iosepa, pictured here.
- photo courtesy of Keith Olive, BLM Salt Lake Field Office
- photo courtesy of Keith Olive, BLM Salt Lake Field Office
Erin Darboven, fire information spokeswoman for the Salt Lake Field Office of the BLM, said burning at the Big Hollow Wildland Urban Interface project area -- just east of the Clover Creek Campground -- began earlier this month.
Last summer, contract crews thinned out junipers, which are highly flammable, to reduce their potential to become fuel for wildfires in three project areas. At Big Hollow, 300 acres were treated.
A total of 32 piles per treated acre, amounting to nearly 10,000 piles, will have been burned by the time the Big Hollow project is finished. The piles are roughly 6 feet high and 8 feet in diameter.
Two other project areas were designated for pile burning this winter. Burning at the Iosepa Wildland Urban Interface project area, which began in November, was completed in early December. Burning at the Hill Springs project area, south of the Pony Express Road and east of Lookout Pass, has not occurred yet but is still scheduled to go ahead.
"We would still like to get that done, but it's a lower priority," Darboven said.
Burning can occur only if weather conditions allow. Each day, the BLM must get approval from a combination of agencies, including the National Weather Service, the Forest Service and state of Utah, before they can begin burning.
swest@tooeletranscript.com
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