The 25,804-acre project is located on the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District, southeast of Bend.
A goal of the project is to make the forest more resilient to insects, disease and large-scale wildfire, according to a news release from the Deschutes National Forest. Prescribed fire and other treatments will be used to reduce hazardous fuels and move the area back to more historic conditions, prior to fire suppression.
In addition, the project addresses road management in the area to reduce impacts to soil, plants and wildlife habitat.
The western portion of the project area crosses U.S. Highway 97 south of Deschutes River Woods and borders lava flows.
China Hat Road, also known as Forest Road 18, goes through the project
area.
Around 11,600 acres of the project area sits within the wildland urban interface. About 1,000 private structures, primarily homes, are within a mile of the project boundary.
Members of the public can contact Alicia Bergshneider, environmental coordinator, at alicia.bergschneider@usda.gov to receive a copy of the environmental assessment, or to ask questions about the project.
Michael Kohn has been public lands and environment reporter with The Bulletin since 2019. He enjoys hiking in the hills and forests near Bend with his family and exploring the state of Oregon.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.