The Bureau of Land Management has announced it will be lighting controlled burns in Southwest Wyoming. The target area includes more than 7,000 acres around Iron Mountain, Middle Canyon, and Montgomery pasture. Spokesperson Shelley Gregory says the controlled burn should actually make the area less prone to wild fires.
“A lot of areas are in need of burns because natural fires have not come through there in a while to maintain the balance. And so the BLM is just going in to restore that balance.”
Gregory says without controlled burns these areas build up large amounts of fuel that could help wildfires spread.
The Bureau of Land Management will start the burns in the next few months, though the timing depends on conditions in the targeted areas.