Interior could burn a few more days
The Yellow Jacket controlled burn moved through Gambel oak and mixed conifer last week several miles east of Bayfield and south of U.S. Highway 160. The San Juan National Forest and partner agencies conducted prescribed burns last week and this week. The fires burned about 5,000 acres and will continue smoking for a few days, but ignitions are finished.
The U.S. Forest Service and other agencies have completed prescribed burns for the season around Bayfield.
“It will take a couple of days for the smoke and interior burning to finish, but no more ignitions,” wrote Gretchen Fitzgerald, spokeswoman with the San Juan National Forest, on Wednesday. The prescribed burns were in low-elevation forests consisting of ponderosa pine, Gambel oak and grass.
The burns reduced forest fuels, thereby reducing the potential for severe wildfires, and will improve wildlife habitat and maintain forest ecosystems, according to federal officials.
Crews burned 2,500 acres in the Yellow Jacket and Lange Canyon areas east of Bayfield, and 2,500 acres at Saul’s Creek.
