Federal land managers are taking advantage of improving fall conditions to launch prescribed burning operations across Oregon and Washington — a critical tool for reducing fuel loads and improving forest health before the next fire season begins.
BLM and U.S. Wildland Fire Service Joint Effort
The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Wildland Fire Service announced this week that prescribed burning operations will begin throughout Oregon and Washington as weather, fuel moisture, and air quality conditions become favorable. Prescribed burns are carefully planned and executed ignitions that consume accumulated fuels in a controlled manner, reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire in subsequent years.
Prescribed burning in fall offers several advantages: fuel moisture in herbaceous vegetation has risen with the season's first rains, reducing the risk of escape; smoke dispersal is generally better under fall atmospheric conditions than in the stagnant summer air masses that trap smoke over populated valleys; and the work can be accomplished at lower risk to personnel than in the high-intensity summer months.
Ochoco and Deschutes National Forests: Burns Underway
Fall prescribed burning operations are already underway across the Ochoco and Deschutes National Forests in central Oregon. These burns are part of long-range forest health and fire risk reduction plans that have been in development for multiple years. Central Oregon communities including Bend, Sisters, Prineville, and surrounding areas have historically been at elevated wildfire risk due to the dense, dry ponderosa pine stands that characterize the region's forests.
Smoke from prescribed burns may be visible from communities in Crook, Jefferson, and Deschutes counties during burning operations. Land managers note that smoke from prescribed burns, while potentially annoying, represents a much smaller and more manageable air quality impact than the smoke that would result from an uncontrolled wildfire in the same fuels.
Sawtooth National Forest, Idaho: Prescribed Fire Planned
In Idaho, the Sawtooth National Forest has announced plans for prescribed fire operations this fall in southern and central Idaho, pending required regulatory approvals. The work is expected to proceed on a weather-dependent basis as appropriate windows emerge. The Sawtooth encompasses more than 2 million acres of diverse terrain including sagebrush steppe, mixed conifer, and subalpine ecosystems — all of which can benefit from periodic fire.
Why Prescribed Fire Matters After a Record Season
The 2026 fire season has reinforced what fire ecologists have argued for decades: landscapes that have been excluded from natural fire cycles for a century carry dangerous fuel loads that, when ignited, produce fires far larger and more destructive than historically typical. Prescribed burning is one of the primary tools available to land managers for restoring more natural fuel conditions.
Members of the public with questions about specific prescribed burns in their area are encouraged to contact the relevant national forest or BLM field office. Smoke complaint lines are also available through Oregon DEQ and Washington Ecology for residents who experience significant smoke impacts from prescribed operations.