Bend, Ore. – An agreement has been announced to do prescribed burning in the Shevlin Park and the Tree Farm area west of Bend.
The Deschutes National Forest, the Bend Park and Recreation District, and The Bend Tree Farm, developers of the new Tree Farm neighborhood, will team up to tackle the project.
This will reduce potential wildfire fuels and improve forest health.
The agreement covers fuels reduction work on 700 acres of land within Shevlin Park, the Tree Farm neighborhood and adjacent national forest lands.
Officials said the prescribed burning will reduce the impacts of a large fire on the city of Bend and improve forest health and wildlife habitat.
Prescribed burning on national forest lands and the Tree Farm neighborhood could begin as early as this spring and early summer.
Burning in Shevlin Park will not occur until 2017.
Officials said it’s expected that burning on the 700 acres will take two to three years to complete, with burns occurring primarily in the spring and late fall.
For an interactive map of prescribed burns in the Central Oregon, visit www.fs.fed.us/r6/webmaps/deschutes/cofms-rxfire/
