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Free firewood permits available
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| The Bureau of Land Management Buffalo Field Office is offering free permits to cut firewood in the Billy Creek area in an effort to reduce potential wildfire fuels. |
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Buffalo Field Office is offering free firewood permits on public lands in the Billy Creek cabins area. BLM initiated the free firewood program several years ago as an incentive for individuals to remove hazardous fuels from the area.
According to BLM Fuels Specialist Steve Hannan, public lands in the Billy Creek area have experienced a severe infestation of insects and disease that have caused a die-off of limber and ponderosa pine trees.
“On the limber pine, it’s mostly white-pine blister rust, which is a fungus that has affected white pines all over the U.S.,” Hannan said.
The fungus, he added is nearly always fatal. It also makes the trees more susceptible to the mountain pine beetle, an insect considered responsible for recent die-offs in Colorado and southern Wyoming. Ponderosa pine in the firewood permitting area have also fallen victim to the beetle.
The dead and diseased trees, together with a continuing trend of summer home development in the Billy Creek area, have resulted in large areas of hazardous fuels that are intermingled with high-value properties. Although BLM and some of the private homeowners have implemented various fuel reduction projects in the area, an increasing number of trees continue to become infected and die.
Access to the area is via the Billy Creek Road, an improved gravel road that turns east off Hazelton Road (County Road 3) about 1 mile from where the Hazelton Road intersects U.S. Highway 16. BLM will post signs on the firewood-cutting unit and issue a map and directions with the wood permits.
Permittees are authorized to drive on existing two-track trails and should be able to get vehicles or trailers right up to the standing dead trees. Any dead or downed trees in the permit area may be cut and removed. Later this summer, as trees are cleared along the trails, the BLM fire crew plans to cut and drag trees to the trails to facilitate removal by firewood permit holders. Most of the trees have been dead for several years and should be well cured and ready for use as firewood.
The free-use firewood permits may be obtained at the BLM office located at 1425 Fort St. Office hours are 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. BLM employees will also be issuing the permits at the Interagency Fire Mitigation Workshop at the Johnson County Fire District 1 Hall Saturday, June 21.
Each permit will be good for up to five cords of firewood and will expire on Dec. 31.
“There is no limit on the number of permits an individual may obtain, but we require permits so that we can measure the volume of wood removed and provide maps and directions to the cutting areas,” said BLM Buffalo Field Office Manager Chris Hanson.
According to BLM Fuels Specialist Steve Hannan, public lands in the Billy Creek area have experienced a severe infestation of insects and disease that have caused a die-off of limber and ponderosa pine trees.
“On the limber pine, it’s mostly white-pine blister rust, which is a fungus that has affected white pines all over the U.S.,” Hannan said.
The fungus, he added is nearly always fatal. It also makes the trees more susceptible to the mountain pine beetle, an insect considered responsible for recent die-offs in Colorado and southern Wyoming. Ponderosa pine in the firewood permitting area have also fallen victim to the beetle.
The dead and diseased trees, together with a continuing trend of summer home development in the Billy Creek area, have resulted in large areas of hazardous fuels that are intermingled with high-value properties. Although BLM and some of the private homeowners have implemented various fuel reduction projects in the area, an increasing number of trees continue to become infected and die.
Access to the area is via the Billy Creek Road, an improved gravel road that turns east off Hazelton Road (County Road 3) about 1 mile from where the Hazelton Road intersects U.S. Highway 16. BLM will post signs on the firewood-cutting unit and issue a map and directions with the wood permits.
Permittees are authorized to drive on existing two-track trails and should be able to get vehicles or trailers right up to the standing dead trees. Any dead or downed trees in the permit area may be cut and removed. Later this summer, as trees are cleared along the trails, the BLM fire crew plans to cut and drag trees to the trails to facilitate removal by firewood permit holders. Most of the trees have been dead for several years and should be well cured and ready for use as firewood.
The free-use firewood permits may be obtained at the BLM office located at 1425 Fort St. Office hours are 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. BLM employees will also be issuing the permits at the Interagency Fire Mitigation Workshop at the Johnson County Fire District 1 Hall Saturday, June 21.
Each permit will be good for up to five cords of firewood and will expire on Dec. 31.
“There is no limit on the number of permits an individual may obtain, but we require permits so that we can measure the volume of wood removed and provide maps and directions to the cutting areas,” said BLM Buffalo Field Office Manager Chris Hanson.
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