Jackson, Wyo.—October 8, 2019—The Bridger-Teton National Forest will conduct a prescribed burn on the Jackson Ranger District in mid-October before the heavy winter weather arrives and inhibits burning activities.

The Taylor Mountain unit is 127-acres, located in Teton County, WY, approximately 7.6 miles South of Wilson and adjacent to the Highland Hills and Hidden Hills Subdivisions. The prescribed burn is part of the Teton to Snake vegetation management project which helps the Forest meet essential goals of being a good neighbor through Firewise practices for homes and neighborhoods adjacent to public land in support of fire adaptive communities. The project also reduces risk and cost of fire suppression during an unwanted fire within the wildland urban interface area.

Crews will light the 127-acre unit by hand using ignition devices, such as drip torches. The unit is broken into 29 sub-units to allow firefighters the opportunity to ignite areas of fuel, known as jackpots, directly adjacent to private parcels in phases.  Firefighters will have hoses to help cool the fire and reduce fire behavior during burning, if needed.   Snow or moisture may also be present to aid in reducing fire activity. Implementation may take several days or burn windows and crews will continue mop-up and monitoring efforts as needed.

Actual ignitions for burning of these sub-units will depend on meeting strict parameters for weather and fire behavior conditions. Smoke will be visible within Teton County and surrounding area during the ignition phase and for a short time after lighting has been completed. No closures are anticipated with the projects burn operations.