4
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
BURNING: Fire
plays critical role
in forest health
Continued from page 1
to do our work,= Bonacker
recalled. <We were essen-
tially linking those treated
units that we already had. We
essentially put a U-shaped
control line around the south-
east and the south end of the
fire.=
Without those previously
treated areas, <we would
have had 10 times more work
to do,= Bonacker said.
Last weekend, Bonacker
told The Nugget that the
recent burns help complete
a treated strip southwest of
town, what Bonacker called
<a pretty significant barrier.
<The completion of that
work really makes a tremen-
dous difference,= he said.
<It gives a place to fight the
inevitable [wildfire] from.=
Prescribed burning con-
sumes fuels on the ground
and brush and low limbs that
create <ladder fuels= that let
fire climb into the crown of
trees. A crown fire is a night-
mare for firefighters.
In treated areas, <you
have a fire that stays on the
ground and is controllable by
the ground troops,= Bonacker
said.
The mass of smoke from
last week9s burns may have
looked ominous, but it was
indicative of success.
<In this country, you don9t
get to burn on a northeast
wind very often,= Bonacker
said. <They were able to take
advantage of the wind and get
things done.=
While it makes citizens
nervous to see the Forest
Service burning on days
with wind, the fires are fully
staffed with wildland fire-
fighting crews. And wind is
actually essential to doing the
work effectively, according
to Oregon State University
Extension Service Regional
PHOTO BY CHARLIE KANZIG
Smoke effects from last week’s fires were pretty minimal — except for a
period on Thursday morning when cold, still air pushed smoke into town.
Fire Specialist Ariel Cowan.
<You need some wind
to help push the fire in the
direction you want it to go,=
she said.
Cowan noted that wind
disperses smoke and lifts it
out of the tree canopy, where
it otherwise might hold in
heat that can damage or kill
trees.
The health of the trees
in Sisters9 forests is a key
consideration in prescribed
burning. Done effectively,
Cowan notes, prescribed fire
helps build resilience in indi-
vidual trees and the forest as
a whole. Ponderosa pines,
which dominate Sisters9
forests, are adapted to fire.
When touched by low inten-
sity burning, they actually get
stronger.
<It9s kind of like an
immune boost for the trees,=
Cowan said. <It encourages
thicker bark growth.=
And the thinning of stands
reduces competition among
trees and allows robust trees
to thrive.
If fire burns at the low-
intensity level that it should
under natural conditions, it9s
good for soil, too.
<Really, there9s a benefi-
cial release of nutrients into
the soil from combustion
of the material on the forest
floor that you wouldn9t get
from just cutting the trees.=
Some local residents who
have suffered from the impact
of heavy wildfire smoke over
the years might prefer that
the Forest Service stick to
cutting small trees and mow-
ing brush. Fire managers are
cognizant of smoke impacts
and try to burn when they
are minimized. Although last
week9s smoke mostly stayed
out of Sisters, there was a
period of a few hours on a
cold, still Thursday morning
when the smoke settled in
4 and the lungs felt it.
Cowan said that mechani-
cal thinning is an important
component of forest treat-
ment 4 but it9s not suffi-
cient. In a fire-adapted land-
scape, burning is necessary to
consume the fuels left on the
ground g.
Burning for safety and for
forest health will be an ongo-
ing process. Areas that have
been treated need to be re-
entered every 10 to 20 years
or so to mimic the natural fire
regime.
<It9s not a one-and-done
kind of thing,= Cowan said.
<It9s tricky, because we have
so many acres to treat.9
Burning continues
Wednesday and Friday
near Black Pine Springs
Campground seven miles
south of Sisters.
There’s a beneficial
release of nutrients into
the soil from combustion
of the material on the
forest floor that you
wouldn’t get from just
cutting the trees.
— Ariel Cowan
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