BLM thins trees to restore land health
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ELY, Nev. – The Bureau of Land Management Ely District’s fuels staff is hand-thinning and masticating pinyon-pine and juniper trees in the Black Canyon and Nine-mile Summit areas of the Egan Basin, about 50 miles north of Ely.
Tree thinning is one of several treatment options to be utilized as part of the Egan and Johnson Basins Restoration Project that was designed to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and improve watershed health in the Egan Basin by restoring sagebrush and other communities, including the pinyon-juniper woodlands. Other options include prescribed fire use, aerial and ground seeding, and invasive plant and noxious weed treatments. The multi-year landscape-scale project calls for BLM to treat up to 24,375 acres of an 84,675-acre project area.
Part of the district’s fire management program, the fuels team works with homeowners, local, state and federal agencies, and Native American tribes to design and implement projects that protect communities and restore and maintain public land health.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.