NOVEMBER 1,2013
Smoke Signals 9
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Logan Kneeland, a Tribal Silviculture and Fire Protection technician, uses a drip torch to light a field on fire for a prescribed burn.
A Day in the Life of the Natural Resources
Department's Silviculture and Fire Protection Program
The Silviculture and Fire Protection Program is one of the programs
that make up the Tribe's Natural Resources Department. Jeff Neps
tad is the program manager, Colby Drake is the supervisor and Jim
Pinder, Jay Ojua and Logan Kneeland are technicians. The program
also has four seasonal employees and temporary on-call employees, or
forestry technicians, for the fire season. The program is responsible for
and serves on the Grand Ronde Tribe's Wildland Firefighters crew and
some of its other duties include precommercial thinning, planting trees,
invasive plant management, seeding and prescribed burns. On Monday,
Oct. 21, some of the crew took part in a prescribed burn on private land
near Rickreall. The crew's assistance was requested by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service.
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Jim Pinder, a Tribal Silviculture and Fire Protection technician, walks
the perimeter of a prescribed burn with a flapper ready to put out
any loose flames so the fire doesn't spread from the burn area.
Photos by
Michelle Alaimo
From left, Tribal Silviculture and Fire
Protection Program seasonal employee
Bryan Fendall, temporary on-call employee
Nick Schramm and Logan Kneeland, a Tribal
Silviculture and Fire Protection technician,
rest as they watch a smoldering field that was
just burned as a prescribed fire.
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Nick Schramm, back, fills a drip torch tank with fuel while working a
prescribed burn. Also waiting to refill tanks is Bryan Fendall, middle, and
Luke Puerini. Schramm is a temporary on-call employee with the program
and Fendall and Puerini are seasonal employees.
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