Prineville, Ore. – It’s not something you hear every day. One creative solution to getting rid of hazardous fuels along major routes on the Ochoco National Forest is to use sheep.
This summer the local sheep removed hundreds of acres of knee-deep, dried out grasses along busy forest roads.
The Forest Service had also recently thinned smaller trees to reduced fire danger along FS roads 22, 4210 and other commonly used roads.
They left behind neatly stacked piles of branches waiting for cooler weather so they could be burned. While the piles waited the grass grew near the piles creating a new hazard.
That’s when the forest service saw the chance for a “win-win” and brought in sheep, from Hay Creek Ranch to remove the grass near the piles.
Rangeland Management Specialist Tory Kurtz. “A lot of the grasses along these piles were knee-high if not taller, and it would not have taken much to light this fuel.”
The project helped provide a fuel break and improve forest health, while reducing fuels around the piles in preparation for burning them this winter.
“The project was a huge benefit to reduce the concern of wildfires along these often traveled corridors during the driest part of the summer,” Kurtz said.
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