WDFW — The Methow Wildlife Area’s Bear Creek #1 campground is closed for a prescribed burn being performed under the direction of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). This area is also commonly referred to as the Upper Bear Creek campground. The prescribed burn will continue through the week, weather permitting, and the […]
Prescribed burning
Prescribed burning planned on over 5,300 acres across eastern Cascades
Starting this month, fire managers plan to begin prescribed burning on 5,300 acres of U.S. Forest Service land on the east slope of the Cascades, with almost half of the total amount of acreage in the Methow Valley Ranger District.
Fewer acres may be burned if conditions are not favorable, said Rob Allen, forest fire staff officer with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
Where’s there’s smoke, there are threats to everyone’s health
By Elizabeth Walker On May 21, our email and phone lines started blowing up. As the front house for the Methow Valley Clean Air Project, Dr. Raleigh Bowden and I frequently advise on air quality issues. And the issues are almost always about smoke. In this case, valley residents were calling for information regarding smoke […]
DNR revises timber-thinning plan for Virginia Ridge sale
Because of the record volume of comments, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has revised a forest treatment for Virginia Ridge and postponed the timber sale until next year.
It’s important to coordinate forest health treatments and timber sales with the local communities, particularly as the agency launches…
A forest health prescription
The U.S. Forest Service truck shuddered over the dirt road as Sara Billings, fuels assistant fire management officer at the Methow Valley Ranger District, drove up into the Okanogan/Wenatchee National Forest outside of Winthrop last week. She was visiting a prescribed burn that was underway in …
New comment period on Mission Forest Restoration Project
A new public comment period on the Mission Forest Restoration Project has been opened by the U.S. Forest Service, specifically related to a proposed amendment to the Okanogan National Forest Plan. The 30-day comment period began June 30.
The Mission Project proposes commercial and …
USFS issues draft environmental assessment for Mission project
A draft Environmental Assessment (EA) has been released by the U.S. Forest Service for the Mission Restoration Project, which proposes thinning, prescribed burning, soil treatments and changes to roads on 50,200 acres of national forest land in …
USFS proposes forest thinning on McClure Mountain
Forest thinning is proposed on about 300 acres near McClure Mountain to protect communications equipment on the peak. McClure Mountain, south of Twisp, is the primary communications hub for the majority of emergency and non-emergency communication within the Methow Valley, and has been identified as critical communications infrastructure by the Methow Valley Long Term Recovery […]
Rx for fire-prone forests: more-extensive prescribed burning
From a vantage point high on Buck Mountain overlooking the Eightmile Creek drainage, green forests carpet the mountains as far as the eye can see.
To most people, it probably looks like a healthy landscape. But to forest specialists like Matt Ellis, fire …
Cantwell backs aggressive fuel-reduction efforts to contain fires
Longer and more intense wildfire seasons of recent years will only become more extreme as a result of climate change, and that has fueled efforts by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, to increase fuels reduction projects in forests to prevent large-scale forest fires.
Cantwell was joined by four climate and forestry…
