COSJD Dawson Pile Burn

Last updated:

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The type of incident is Prescribed Fire and involves the following unit(s) Tres Rios Field Office.

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State: Colorado

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Coordinates:

Latitude: 37° 51 36 Longitude: 108° 37 23

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NOTE: All fire perimeters and points are approximations.

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Incident Overview: Southwest District Fire and Aviation- The Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office is conducting prescribed fire pile burning near the Dawson Draw area, South of Dry Creek Basin, and East of U.S. HWY 491 Colorado.  This pile burn is scheduled to take place during the winter and early spring of 2025 and will be conducted as weather conditions permit.Specific timing of the operation will depend on favorable weather conditions. Crews will be on site for the duration of the burn.Smoke will be visible throughout the day of the burn, mostly during the warmest part of the day. With cooler temperatures in the evening, smoke may linger and accumulate in low-lying areas. Firefighters will be on site throughout the day of ignition and will periodically patrol the burns for several days afterward.The Dawson vegetation treatment project was created by researchers from USGS, CU Boulder, University of Reno Nevada, and UC Berkeley along with the Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office. This projects primary goal is to perform hazardous fuels reduction and evaluate the forest stand response. This treatment includes 530 acres of Pinyon-Juniper stands to be hand thinned and piled in units of 16-28 acres. Piles will be created from the remaining slash and will be burned when weather conditions allow. Project units have been organized to study tree and vegetation response to multiple thinning prescriptions: a uniform thinning prescription and a heterogenous thinning prescription. These project treatments will also evaluate the vegetative response across different elevations. The result of this project will be valuable information pertaining to standard fuel treatment methodologies, drought and other disturbances within the pinyon-juniper stands.Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. For more information, please visit the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division’s website at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.