Kenai refuge plans prescribed burn: Managers ready to continue Lily Lake fire project near Sterling

If favorable weather persists, the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge is planning to continue implementation of the Lily Lake prescribed fire project, possibly as early as the end of this week or early next week.

"Things are shaping up well for a burn this year," said Dianne MacLean, an assistant fire management officer at the refuge.

The 431-acre Lily Lake unit is a dense, continuous stand of black spruce on the Moose River Flats between the East Fork Moose River and the northeast corner of the Sterling Corridor (that area of private and public lands between and including the communities of Soldotna, Sterling and Funny River, and surrounded on three sides -- north, east and south -- by the refuge).

The Lily Lake fire project -- a wildland-urban interface fuel reduction effort -- was initiated in 2003, but has been hindered from happening on several occasions.

Record fire seasons in Alaska in 2004 and 2005 prevented progress on the project, while wet summers in 2006 and 2008, also stymied the project those years. In 2007 the 55,438 acre Caribou Hills wildfire pulled all resources from the peninsula, and other parts of the state, allowing only minimal prescribed burning that summer.

"We burned a little bit in 2007, but only about 15 acres," MacLean said.

This season, the hot and dry weather is making a burn look promising, but a few more days of these conditions are still needed to achieve what fire mangers desire from the burn, in addition to the removal of hazardous fuels.

"Right now it's dry enough at the surface, but we need it to be dry enough to burn down into the duff layer to give us mineral soil exposure. That's what will bring hardwoods regeneration, which are a less flammable material, compared to spruce. As they come back, they are provide good forage for moose, hares and other animals," she said.

The Lily Lake Prescribed Fire Plan calls for the unit to be burned in two separate operations, or phases. Phase 1, which is the one that could begin this week, will begin by continuing to burn a 184-acre outer ring of crushed trees, the width of which varies between 300 and 600 feet.

This first phase is designed to be a low-risk prescribed fire, with relatively short flame-lengths, little spotting potential and a low risk of escape. It will also create a secure fireline around the entire unit and lessen the relative risk of Phase 2, which will burn the remaining 247-acre island of standing black spruce at the center of the unit.

"We've broken the outer 184 acre ring into eight blocks, of roughly 5 to 30 acres, and we'll continue to pick away at those blocks by burning them one at a time," MacLean said.

"The center will be the last thing we do," she added.

While nothing significant is expected, MacLean said there is the possibility of residual smoke in the area of the burn for up to a week after ignition, especially at night when local winds tend to subside and smoke settles in low-lying areas.

People in the Adkins Road area in Sterling, anywhere within the Sterling Corridor, or possibly around the Watson Lake area, may all smell smoke, she said.

This prescribed fire project will continue intermittently throughout the summer as long as conditions are favorable.

"But, if we get rain, it could slow things down," MacLean said.

During fire operations, prescriptive parameters -- such as wind speed, wind direction, smoke dispersion and fire behavior -- will be constantly monitored. Any safety, smoke, weather or fire behavior conditions that exceed approved parameters will result in cessation of fire operations.

For more information on the refuge's prescribed fire operations, call 260-5994 or 262-7021.

Joseph Robertia can be reached at joseph.robertia@peninsulaclarion.com.