Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project members Ed Keith and Nicole Strong visited an area of the Milli Fire where restoration had been implemented west and south of Sisters earlier in the year. Thinning, mowing, and prescribed burning in the area helped reduce the intensity and duration of a portion of the Milli fire, making it easier […]
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Thinning, Mowing and Prescribed Fire completed during the Spring 2017 prescribed fire season helped firefighters battle the Milli Fire outside of Sisters. During the August 2017 Milli Fire outside of Sisters, Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project members Ed Keith and Nicole Strong visited an area of the fire where restoration had been implemented the previous spring. […]
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“After 15 years of massive and severe blazes that have blackened landscape and choked the community with smoke for weeks at a time, severely disrupting people’s lives and the local economy, Sisters lives in dread of wildfire each summer. To push back against those impacts, foresters must fight fire with fire: specifically, prescribed fire. Fire is […]
Without regular fires, Oregon’s dry, east-side forests have grown much thicker. The unnaturally dense forests that exist today are more susceptible to insect and disease outbreaks and are fueling bigger, more intense wildfires that put nearby communities in danger.
We share our community’s concerns regarding health, visibility, and livability related to smoke produced by prescribed fires. And we know that prescribed burns are a critical step in forest restoration. Research shows that in addition to sustaining important forest ecosystem functions, prescribed burning significantly reduces the likelihood of wildfires, the kind that means danger for […]
By Thomas Maness, Cheryl Ramberg-Ford and Allyn C. Ford Dean, College of Forestry When it comes to proper management of our public forests, some would like to take a page from the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-Tzu. He posed the concept of non-action as an approach to life. In our forests, if we do nothing and […]
As favorable weather and forest burning conditions develop, fuels specialists across the Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests will conduct numerous prescribed burns across Central Oregon in the coming weeks. Prescribed burns are planned for the Bend, Crescent, and Sisters areas. The use of prescribed fire in Central Oregon’s fire-adapted ecosystems restores forests to healthier conditions, […]
Once the initial forest restoration steps have been completed, and the forest is ready for prescribed fire, now it’s time to organize the many fire professionals and equipment needed to safely conduct a prescribed burn. The Burn Boss oversees all aspects of the prescribed fire, from writing the prescribed burn plan that describes every detail […]
“Each year, foresters here thin out trees, clear brush and light fires like this to burn off fuels and lower the risk of large, uncontrollable wildfires. This commitment to the full suite of fuel treatments — especially burning – has helped make the Deschutes National Forest a model and a success story in the effort […]
For a quick reference guide to print at home, email to friends, or share with neighbors, download our forest restoration Rack Card, which includes a brief introduction to the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project and our restoration efforts in Central Oregon.
What is the current status of our Central Oregon forests? What does balance look like? Members of the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project steering committee share their thoughts on restoring the balance to our forest.
Wildfire was here before us. For millennia, our region was shaped by fire, and our mid- and lower elevation forests (think forests of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer species around Sisters, Bend, and Sunriver) were maintained by frequent, low-intensity fires, every ten to twenty-five years. These natural fires are essential for stimulating fire-dependent trees and […]
