The Bureau of Land Management Rocky Mountain District Fire and Aviation Management Unit is preparing to conduct pile burns in nine locations this winter on Royal Gorge Field Office-managed lands in Chaffee, Fremont, and Custer counties.

The objective of the pile burns is to remove the slash left behind from timber harvests and previous fuels treatments. Timber harvests and fuels treatments remove beetle-killed timber and other fuels, reducing the risk of future catastrophic wildfires. They also help create various stages of plant succession, which is critical to the health of fire-adapted ecosystems. These burns will remove the leftover piled fuels but may burn some nearby live vegetation in in the project area, as well. The locations of these pile burn projects for winter 2020-2021 are as follows:

  • Hole in the Rock: 2,400 hand-built piles among Ponderosa Pine, Piñon Pine, Juniper and Gambel Oak. The project area is located north of Cañon City, off Fremont County Road 11 and east of the High Park Subdivision.
  • Whiskey: 3,000 large hand-built piles among Ponderosa Pine, Piñon Pine, Juniper, and grass. The project area is located 6.5 miles southwest of Cripple Creek, south of Fremont County Road 11 and west of the High Park Subdivision.
  • Likely Gulch: 2,000 hand-built piles among Piñon Pine, Juniper and Ponderosa Pine. The project area is located south of Texas Creek off CO Highway 69 and Road Gulch.
  • Mt. Harvard Estates: 1,250 hand-built piles among Piñon Pine, Juniper and grass. The project area is located 5.5 miles north of Buena Vista, CO, ½ mile east of US 24, and immediately north and east of the Mt. Harvard Estates subdivision.
  • Tyndall: Three machine-built piles among Ponderosa Pine and grass. The project area is located 3 miles north of Rosita, 7.5 miles east of Westcliffe and south of CO Highway 96, near Mount Tyndall.
  • Pinyon Mountain: 450 hand-built piles among Piñon Pine, Juniper, Ponderosa Pine, and Douglas Fir. The project area is located south of the Acres of Ireland subdivision, ¾ mile south of US 50, and 1.5 miles south of Howard, CO.
  • Kerr Gulch: 250 hand-built piles among Piñon Pine, Juniper, Ponderosa Pine, and Douglas Fir.  The project area is located 1.5 miles west of US 50, 3 miles northwest of the Coaldale, CO.
  • Thompson Mountain: 35 machine-built piles among Ponderosa Pine, Piñon Pine, Juniper, and Gambel Oak. The project area is located 13 miles northwest of Cañon City, 2 miles east of CO Highway 9, and in the Deer Haven area near Thompson Mountain.
  • Mount Shavano: 500 hand-built piles among Piñon Pine, Juniper, Ponderosa Pine, and Douglas Fir. The project area is located 3.5 miles north of US 50, 3.5 miles west of US 285, and 5.5 miles northwest of Poncha Springs, CO.

Smoke from the pile burns 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 accumulate in low-lying areas. According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. For more information on wildland fire smoke, please visit the Colorado Air Pollution Control Division’s website: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.

Information on Royal Gorge Field Office winter 2020-2021 pile burns will be available on Inciweb (https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7266/) and on Facebook at @BLMColoradoFire as conditions become favorable to conduct these burns. For additional information, please contact Matt Norden, Fire Operations Specialist, at (719) 269-8583, or John Markalunas, Assistant Fire Management Officer, at (719) 852-8160.