Prescribed Underburning in Southwest Oregon

In May 2016, a 36-acre prescribed underburn was completed by BLM crew on the Marty and Peggy Main property near Trail, Oregon. The Main property is a 120-acre parcel consisting of low-elevation, dry, mixed conifer forest typical of the area. The overarching goal is to restore ecosystem processes and return the site to a more frequent, lower-severity disturbance regime. The prescribed burn was implemented after thinning and surface fuel treatment. As a result, fuel loads were reduced by 61% and ladder fuels by 90%. Postburn treatments involved salvaging merchantable trees and planting new natural vegetation of ponderosa pine.