The past few weeks at our field office have been quite hectic and exciting. The Lost Fire scorched over 60,000 acres in our resource area, and the almost record-breaking Rush Fire snuck its way into the southern section, burning another several thousand acres. Our tiny field office has been filled with fire specialists from around the district and state office.
Once the fires were controlled, the real work started. Our field office was responsible for a Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) plan very soon after. I was able to help my mentor design a reseeding plan for the BAER. It was an incredibly valuable experience. I learned all about different aspects of fire ecology, and how BLM responds to fire. Coming from the Northeast, this was all new information and very interesting. It was also great to be a part of a team of specialists working towards a short deadline. Now we just have to collect the native seeds for these projects. Hopefully, we’ll be able to muster a volunteer team because we’re going to need a lot of seed! Get ready Bend!