The following is a news release from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest office in Dillon.
Fire officials from the Wise River Ranger District will soon begin burning activities which may result in visible smoke from mid-May through mid-June. Firefighters will conduct burning on 322 acres in the Dry Gulch drainage located approximately two miles southwest of Divide in the east Pioneer Mountains.
Firefighters are burning this area in order to maintain and improve the integrity of the grass and shrub communities. The increase in new grasses, forbs, and shrubs will improve forage quality for wildlife.
Travelers and residents along I-15 between the Buxton exit and the Melrose exit may see smoke from the burn but little impact from the smoke is expected.
Fire crews will burn under prescribed conditions and monitor these burns after ignition to ensure the burns do not burn outside their boundaries. For more information regarding these controlled burns, contact the Wise River Ranger District at (406) 832-3178.
