Firefighters and forestry crews on two of Oregon's major national forests are actively burning piles of slash and accumulated forest debris this week, taking advantage of moderate autumn weather to reduce fuel loads left behind by decades of fire suppression and two consecutive record-breaking fire seasons.

The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in southern Oregon and the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in northeastern Oregon are both conducting fall prescribed fire operations, with multiple pile burn projects currently active on InciWeb.

Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest

The Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, in coordination with interagency partners and neighboring landowners, is implementing prescribed fire projects across multiple ranger districts as weather and fuel conditions allow. The forest's fall burning program includes both understory burns and pile burns across the Ashland, Applegate, Siskiyou Mountains, and High Cascades ranger districts.

At the High Cascades Ranger District, pile burning near Prospect Ranger Station is planned for approximately 45 acres north of the station. For the third year running, the area around Huckleberry Mountain on the High Cascades Ranger District has been prepared for prescribed fire work, with the area closed to public entry to support operations and protect public safety.

The Rogue River-Siskiyou is a forest with a complex fire history. Much of southern Oregon experienced significant fire activity in 2026, and forest managers say proactive fuel reduction is essential to prevent future catastrophic fire behavior in the wildland-urban interface communities of the Rogue and Applegate valleys.

Wallowa-Whitman National Forest

In northeastern Oregon, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest has multiple active pile burn projects underway. Units currently listed on InciWeb include:

  • Bird Track 615 & 617: 428 acres in the Wallowa Mountains area
  • Bird Track 621: 377 acres
  • Cove Pile Burns: 165 acres
  • Starvation 21A: 55 acres
  • Starvation 2A: 96 acres
  • Cove 200B: 10 acres

Pile burns involve the controlled combustion of slash — the woody debris left behind after timber harvest, forest thinning, or hazard tree removal. By burning these accumulations under controlled conditions, crews remove material that would otherwise fuel larger, harder-to-control wildfires during fire season. Collectively, these Wallowa-Whitman units represent over 1,100 acres of strategic fuel reduction work.

Smoke Advisories

Residents in communities near both forests should expect to see and smell smoke on days when burns are active. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality monitors air quality statewide and issues advisories when smoke levels reach thresholds of concern for sensitive populations.

Prescribed burn operations may be cancelled or reduced if wind, humidity, or air quality conditions fall outside acceptable parameters. The forests will post updates on their InciWeb incident pages and Forest Service websites when significant changes to burn operations occur.

For the latest on Rogue River-Siskiyou prescribed fire operations, residents can contact the forest's public affairs office in Medford, Oregon at the Rogue River-Siskiyou NF headquarters (3040 Biddle Rd., Medford, OR 97504). Wallowa-Whitman updates are available through the forest's La Grande, Oregon headquarters.