The George Washington and Jefferson National Forest will begin conducting prescribed burns starting potentially in February.
Eastern Divide Ranger District will implement several prescribed burning projects to reduce forest fuels, improve conditions of wildlife habitat, restore characteristics of a fire-adapted ecosystem, and better protect communities.
Prescribed burning is one of the most important tools the Forest Service utilizes to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk. Safety is the Forest Service’s top priority, and fire managers will conduct prescribed burns only under appropriate weather conditions.
Planned burns will be scheduled in the following locations:
Botetourt County: The 2,553-acre Price Mountain burn area is located on and around Price Mountain, north of Rt. 606 and northeast of New Castle.
The 352-acre Craig Creek Recreation burn area is in the Craig Creek Recreation site, 1.5 miles east of Oriskany off Rt. 817.
Craig County: The 369-acre Mill Creek burn is located east of Fenwick Recreation site. Smoke may be visible from Fenwick Mines Recreation Area, New Castle, Barbours Creek and Oriskany.
The 1,946-acre Sinking Creek burn is located east of Rt. 621 directly adjacent to the Caldwell Fields recreation area on Forest Road 630.
The 808-acres Potts Mountain Unit 8 burn is located east of Rt. 311 and 10 miles northeast of New Castle along Forest Road 277.1 and 176.
The 728-acre North Mountain prescribed burn area is located on the north side of North Mountain, east of Route 311 between Catawba and Abbott.
For public safety, forest visitors and recreationists are asked to be aware of fire crews and vehicles in these areas, and take caution as roads and trails may be used as control lines for the burn and could be temporarily impacted by low-intensity fire and smoke. Trails may be closed for a short duration during the burn for public safety.
For more information on the prescribed burn program, contact the Eastern Divide Ranger District office at (540-552-4641), visit the website athttps://www.fs.usda.gov/gwj or follow twitter: https://twitter.com/GWJNF and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GWJNF.