January 9, 2024 - Pile Burning

Black Hills National Forest

The Northern Hills Ranger District is planning to burn machine piles over the next 7 days, as conditions allow in the Pounder project area, located approximately 6 miles west of Sturgis and north of highway 14A.

Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands

Beginning Wednesday (1/10) and lasting through the week, the Pine Ridge Ranger District will be conducting prescribed burns on Forest Service land. Today, the burns will occur at the Pine Ridge Ranger District Work Center (located at 16524 Hwy 385, Chadron, NE) and near Camp Norwesca (south of Chadron State Park). Tomorrow, the burns will occur near West and East Ash roads and near Red Cloud Campground.

South Dakota Wildland Fire

Custer State Park, in collaboration with South Dakota Wildland Fire (SDWF), will be burning slash piles in the park this winter as long as conditions allow. The Park’s goal is to burn both large machine-made slash piles and smaller hand-built piles. Both the Park and SDWF will be providing personnel and equipment to conduct and monitor the burns throughout the winter.

The piles are created from left-over unsalable woody debris generated by timber sales and small tree thinning projects. The burns are designed to reduce the amount of fuel available for fires and to lessen the risk of fires starting or spreading. Piles can be expected to continue burning for days after ignited. Firefighters will continually monitor the piles until they are out.

For more information contact the Custer State Park Office at 605.394.2693 or by email at custerstatepark@state.sd.us.