Routt National Forest fire and fuels staff are planning to conduct multiple prescribed burns on National Forest System lands in the McKinnis and Harrison Creek areas this spring. 

The staff needs to wait for suitable weather and field moisture conditions to determine the exact dates for burning at the location, which is near U.S. Highway 40 on the western Routt National Forest boundary of Rabbit Ears Pass. 

The Forest Service will provide notifications for the burns on the agency’s social media channels — @FS_MBRTB on the social platform X and @FSMBRTB on Facebook. 

Prescribed burns help reduce the threat of wildlife to nearby communities and structures, as well as improving wildlife habitat by regenerating shrubs and aspen trees, according to the Forest Service.

Minimal and managed smoke from prescribed fires helps prevent the potential for unpredictable and hazardous wildfire smoke in the future. 

“This year’s burning will treat approximately 300 acres, the same units the Forest hoped to treat last year but did not get a burn window,” a Forest Service statement reads. “Mastication work and prescribed fire as part of the larger, multi-year Steamboat Front Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project was accomplished in 2017-19 and 2022.”

Staff will primarily use ground ignition to carry out the burning with the possibility of using unmanned aircraft systems, according to the agency’s release.

Project completion will likely take multiple days, and operations will not begin until conditions allow for safe and effective burns. 

“Burn units are comprised of mountain shrubs, grasses and aspen,” the release stated. “While smoke will likely be visible from some areas during burning operations, including Highway 40, it should subside in the evening. Pending weather conditions, smoke may settle in surrounding low-lying areas at night. Forest Service fire crews will monitor burned areas following operations until the fire is safely out.”

For more project information contact Fuels Specialist Lance Broyles at 970-629-2524 or Hahns Peak/Bears Ears District Ranger Michael Woodbridge at 970-870-2149.