Prescribed Fire Announcement: Magic Feather Prescribed Burn Could Begin as Soon as Oct. 4
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – Firefighters on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Roosevelt National Forest are monitoring local conditions to begin prescribed fire operations as soon as October 4, 2021, on the Magic Feather Prescribed Burn to improve forest health.
This burn is located east and southeast of Red Feather Lakes. Burning operations next week could include two units totaling approximately 1,000 acres, located north of County Road 74E (Red Feather Lakes Road). Firefighters successfully burned 70 acres of Unit 1 in June. Work has already taken place in the area to prepare for ignitions, including tree cutting around the perimeter and within the interior of the project. Crews will be in the area over the weekend preparing for Monday.
Appropriate, localized conditions must be met before ignition of prescribed burns can take place. Fire managers have been carefully monitoring these conditions, including favorable weather forecast (temperature, wind, precipitation, relative humidity), fuel moisture, smoke dispersal and staffing. Weather is monitored throughout the burn and burning will be halted if conditions fall outside of the required conditions. In ideal conditions, as many as 500 acres could be burned in one day.
Residents and visitors in the area should expect to see smoke when operations are taking place. Temporary closures of the Mount Margaret Trail should be expected. Please follow all signage. Smoke may also impact those using the Dowdy Lake Campgrounds and Day-Use Area.
To get added to the email notification list for when burning begins in this area, please send an email to reghan.cloudman@usda.gov with the subject line “Magic Feather.” Additional information may be found on inciweb at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6403/. Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. More information about smoke impacts is available at https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health.
Photo: Firefighters with the Canyon Lakes Ranger District ignite the Magic Feather prescribed burn in June of 2021. (Evan Barrientos)