Cora Dutton Prescribed Burn Planned for Smokey Bear Ranger District Planned

Fire managers on the Smokey Bear Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest hope to take advantage of favorable conditions, including fuel moisture levels, air quality, and forecasted weather to conduct pile burning north of Cora Dutton road and about 1 mile southwest of the town of Capitan. Planned ignition dates: 9/21/21. Updates: www.nmfireinfo.com

This operation is weather-dependent and will take several days to complete. Smoke from the burn may be visible from Capitan, Lincoln, Ruidoso, and other surrounding communities. Signs will be posted along roadways to inform motorists who may potentially be affected by smoke. Motorists are reminded to use caution by reducing speed and watching for fire personnel and equipment.    

The purpose of these prescribed burns is to remove slash from a previous thinning project. This will help to decrease the risk of damage from wildfires and loss to adjacent property. Other goals are to improve watershed and habitat conditions, increase the health, vigor, and competitive ability of the native plant community, and reduce the density of exotic, invader and introduced plant species. 

The BLM encourages public land users to continue to be careful with fire. To report a wildfire on public land, please call Alamogordo Interagency Dispatch at 877-695-1663. For more information on this prescribed burn and the BLM fire and hazardous fuels reduction program, please call Nathan Curnutt at 575-627-0311. You can also follow the implementation of this project on NMFireInfo.com, on Twitter @nmfireinfo, or on facebook.com/nmfireinfo. 

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