Incident Overview
Note: New information will be posted as projects are implemented throughout the season. Please contact Tim Rash, Assistant Fire Management Officer, for the US Fish & Wildlife Service's Nevada Fire Management Zone (see contact information).
Between February 1 and March 12, 2010, the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge will be implementing a number of prescribed fires to help reduce hazardous vegetation levels, protect wildland-urban interface communities, and enhance wetland marsh habitat areas. Implementing the prescribed fires in the winter avoids potential impacts to nesting birds and other breeding animals and burns better while vegetation is dead or dormant. The refuge units planned for burning are West Marsh, South Lead Lake, North Pauite, Tule Lake and Lower Foxtail Lake. The approximate acreage to be burned at the refuge is 4, 660 acres.
Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge is located in the Lahontan Valley, near the community of Fallon, sixty miles east of Reno. The Stillwater wetlands are well-known to birders, as this area has been designated a site of international importance by the Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve Network because of the hundreds of thousands of shorebirds, such as Long-billed dowitcher, Black-necked stilt, and American avocet passing through during migration.
Also listed as a 'Globally Important Bird Area' by the American Bird Conservancy, more than 280 species have been sighted in the area. These tremendously rich and diverse wetlands attract more than a quarter million waterfowl, as well as over 20,000 other water birds, including American white pelicans, Double-crested cormorants, White-faced ibis, and several species of egrets, herons, gulls, and terns
Prescribed fire is an important tool in managing habitat conditions to benefit the multitude of wildlife that utilize the refuge. Prescribed fire is also used to reduce hazardous levels of vegetation which pose a wildfire risk to refuge facilities and neighboring communities.
The Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge is part of the larger Stillwater Complex that is made up of three refuges located within an 80 mile radius of Reno, in northern Nevada. Situated in the high desert, Stillwater NWRC offers a wide range of natural resources and an array of recreational and educational opportunities.
Visit the refuge website for more information
Basic Information
| Incident Type | Prescribed Fire |
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