Where WA plans to burn before wildfire season

The state Department of Natural Resources will burn up to 2,580 acres in Central and Eastern Washington before the summer season, aiming to prevent severe wildfires later.

The operations across eight sites could begin as soon as next week and will continue through spring and early summer. Burns may be postponed if weather and other conditions are not met.

According to DNR, successful prescribed fires reduce fuels, improve the health of older trees and create safer landscapes for wildland firefighters.

“Prescribed fires are a critical, cost-effective component of restoring the health of our forests and protecting our communities from the worst outcomes during wildfire season,” Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz said in a statement.

Prescribed fire has long been an Indigenous ecological practice but has been absent in the Western U.S. as wildfires have become increasingly frequent and intense. DNR ignited its first prescribed burn in nearly two decades on state land in 2022.

The burns planned for the spring include around 960 acres near Glenwood, Klickitat County; 420 acres around Tonasket, Okanogan County; nearly 1,000 acres northwest of Yakima; nearly 200 acres near Ellensburg; and about 85 acres near Loomis, Okanogan County.

DNR encouraged those who are sensitive to wildfire smoke to keep track of upcoming burns using DNR’s website, email alerts or social media. Individual sites within an area may be burned at different times due to ground conditions or other factors.

Wildfire season in the Pacific Northwest is expected to become longer and more intense as summers are anticipated to become hotter and drier. Traditionally, the wildfire season peaks around mid-July to mid-September and ends that month as fall rains arrive.

However, that timeline has become less reliable, and 2020 and 2021 were considered the state’s second- and third-worst fire seasons on record. For the first time last year, more fires sparked in Western Washington than in Central and Eastern Washington combined.

Even the rainfall-rich forests west of the Cascades won’t be spared, and research suggests the North Cascades, Olympic Mountains, Puget Sound lowlands and Western Oregon Cascades could see at least twice as much fire activity in the 30 years following 2035.

Wildfire affects homes, people and critical infrastructure like dams, and research has shown wildfire can reduce the value of nearby timberland even if that land does not directly burn. One study estimated the economic losses to private timberland in California, Oregon and Washington at $11.2 billion over the past two decades.

Material from The Seattle Times archive was used in this report.