Friday, December 16, 2016

Piles Burning to occur in Custer State Park

Custer, SD; December 16, 2016 – Custer State Park personnel will begin burning piles starting Friday, December 16  to help reduce hazardous fuel throughout the park.

Starting today and continuing throughout the winter, Custer State Park staff will be burning piles as long as conditions allow. This weekend pile burning will occur in the northwest area of the park to the north and west of Mount Coolidge, along American Center Road, and along Needles Highway.

Custer State Park will be working to burn both machine slash piles and hand piles. The piles are created from the left-over non-merchantable material generated by timber sales and from small tree thinning projects designed to reduce fuel loading and fire risk.

“By removing these piles we reduce fuel build up which can in turn can assist with reducing larger fire hazards in the park.” states Rochelle Plocek, fire forester.

Smoke will be visible and may impact local communities surrounding Custer State Park for the next several months. Piles can be expected to continue burning for days after ignition operations are completed. Firefighters will continually check and mop-up the piles until they are out.

Pile burning operations will continue throughout the winter as conditions allow.


For more pile burning information check the Custer State Park Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CusterStatePark/ or contact the Park Office at 605-255-4800.