Wildfire Prevention

Since I was a little girl, my home has been Eastern Oregon. The areas I am very familiar with are in the Malheur and the Wallowa-Whitman National Forests located in the Blue Mountains and Wallowa Mountains of eastern Oregon. Elevations vary from about 3000 feet to 9000 feet at the top of Strawberry Mountain. We frequently hunted, fished and camped in these forests. The Forest is home to high desert grasslands, sage, juniper, pine, fir, and hidden alpine lakes and meadows. The land is primarily irrigated lands used for grazing and agriculture. Wildfires were a common, annual occurrence for everyone there. Although I have not had to go toe-to-toe with a wildfire, fire prevention was a very serious topic. This part of Oregon experiences severe drought every year. The vegetation in the area has complex root systems, making them resistant to drought and fire. Some species even have "seratonous" (resin-filled) cones which rely on fire to spread their seeds. Fires consume dead, decaying vegetation accumulating on the forest floor, thereby clearing the way for new growth. Unfortunately, small towns and ranches dot the landscape as well. The lack of moisture provides wildfires with excellent fuel. Temperatures in the summer can get as high as 110 degrees F in the summer months, these months also have the lowest Relative Humidity for the year. These conditions are perfect for sustained combustion of wildfires. Conditions combined with the lack of wind barriers and bodies of water make it very hard to stop wildfires once they begin. When I was little, I often helped my grandfather walk the fence line practicing “controlled burning”. We would pack water with us and burn away the underbrush, in controllable size fires around the property. This takes away the “fuel” side of the fire triangle to lessen the chance of wildfires.

Area near Ironside, OR.
Photo by: Heather Schultz