Slash Burns Slated This Week

Teton Interagency Fire personnel will begin pile burning in Grand Teton National Park as soon as this week if conditions allow.  Fire personnel say they will target 10 project areas. They include locations throughout the park including at Beaver Creek, the Whitegrass Ranch, Mailbox Corner area, Leeks Marina, various location in the Colter Bay area, and near Kelly and Moose. The burn piles are mostly in developed areas where fire crews have thinned and removed lower limbs from trees, and removed dead wood and brush from the forest floor. The objective is to eliminate woody debris, affording benefits to wildlife habitat, while lessening the risk of catastrophic wildfire and risk to firefighters in the event of a large scale fire. Firefighters place the slash in tepee-shaped piles and typically let them cure for a year before burning them. Fire officials say on the day of the burn, smoke will be visible in a variety of places around the valley.