Oregon Department of Forestry’s Central Oregon District increased restrictions for forest operations and the public beginning July 27. These restrictions are intended to reduce the risk of fire ignition on lands within the Central Oregon District in Lake, Harney, Deschutes, Crook, Wasco, Hood River, Grant, Wheeler, Gilliam, Jefferson, Morrow and Umatilla counties. Minimal precipitation combined with increasing hot temperatures has continued to dry wildland vegetation and fuels, increasing the potential for rapid fire spread. The Regulated-Use Closure, restricts many high-risk activities between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. and prohibits activities such as blasting, in addition to restricting other activities. Anyone traveling on forested roads is required to have one shovel and one gallon of water (or a 2 ½ pound fire extinguisher). …Full details of the closure and restrictions of industrial activities are available at www.ODFcentraloregon.com.

U.S. Forest Service fire management officials are seeking 30 candidates for the fourth annual Women-in-Wildfire Basic Training Camp based at Little Tujunga Hotshot headquarters in Sylmar, it was announced Tuesday. The six-day camp, which begins on Nov. 16, is designed to introduce and prepare women for entry-level wildland firefighter jobs throughout California and surrounding states. “Led by female firefighters who have over 60 years of combined experience, this camp is structured to train women in basic firefighting techniques and fire behavior through classroom and hands-on training,” according to a Forest Service statement. “Students will practice on multiple types of fire suppression equipment, including Forest Service fire engines, hand tools and advanced firing techniques.”

Vail Mountain’s Epic Discovery may not be in full operation this year, but the resort’s partner in the effort – The Nature Conservancy – remains dedicated to the issues the partnership sought to tackle. Chief among those issues is an effort to reduce wildfire risks in Vail and Breckenridge. Over the past three years, 1% of revenue from Epic Discovery activities has went to The Nature Conservancy, which seeks to identify opportunities for forest management collaborations in our area. Among the many tough decisions Vail Mountain will have to make in the coming months is if that donation will continue this summer, considering the only Epic Discovery activities available are mountain’s Forest Flyer roller coaster and Eagle’s Loop informative hike… The Nature Conservancy’s major focus in Vail in recent years involved the Vail Intermountain Fuels Reduction project, a $1.1 million effort which removed 200,000 board feet of conifer trees from the Intermountain area of Vail from 2017 to 2019.

Shasta College recently became California’s first educational institution to be issued a Commercial Timber Operators License and the college made the first delivery of student-harvested logs to the Sierra Pacific Industries mill in Anderson.  Becoming a Licensed Timber Operator allows Shasta College to collect proceeds from timber that students harvest as part of the college’s logging training program. The college will then invest most of those proceeds back into the college’s Heavy Equipment Logging Operations certificate program to help offset operational costs such as fuel, consumables, maintenance and repairs.  The first contracted logs from the student training ground were delivered to the SPI Anderson sawmill on July 20. The load of 34 Douglas fir logs with an average length of 36 feet totaling 3,930 board feet demonstrates the culmination of the successful partnership built among key stakeholders.