Cool rainy weather across much of the state has allowed the first controlled burns to be lit in parts of Oregon.
A release from the Oregon Department of Forestry said new rules governing smoke may allow more of these burns than in the past. The release said ODF officials believe increasing the amount of burning will help landowners reduce the public safety risk from the buildup fuels in forests and will improve forest health.
Known as prescribed fires, these regulated burns are lit when weather conditions will minimize smoke getting into smoke-sensitive receptor areas and wilderness areas like Crater Lake National Park.
Nick Yonker, ODF Meteorology Manager, said the prescribed burns the public may see in the coming weeks are only done when weather conditions are favorable for burning. He said the agency looks to burn on days where air movement will disperse the smoke so public health is protected.
New rules implemented this spring still require that those burning not exceed federal air quality standards for particulate matter from smoke. But they no longer classify small amounts of smoke entering into a smoke-sensitive receptor area as an intrusion.
Yonkers expects that burners will now be more confident about starting burns when conditions are reasonable rather than only when they are perfect. He said if the weather cooperates, the state might get 10 percent to 20 percent more burning than was done last fall.
Last year, controlled fires were set on just over 185,000 acres out of Oregon’s more than 30 million forested acres. That was about 16,000 acres above the 10-year average. Estimates are that those fires burned almost 1.3 million tons of wood debris.