Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
Prescribed burns are starting this fall to reduce wildfire risk and restore native ecosystems.
Prescribed burn season is underway in Eugene and Springfield.
Land managers use prescribed fire as a tool to introduce proactive, low-intensity burns to keep trees and shrubs in check, encourage native plant growth and reduce the risk of extreme wildfires.
Eugene’s Parks and Open Space Department, in partnership with the Rivers to Ridges Partnership, announced Thursday, Sept. 18, its list of burn locations.
- Coburg Hills: on conservation lands on the Coburg Ridge east of Interstate 5 and northeast of Eugene-Springfield.
- Mount Pisgah: within the Howard Buford Recreation Area east of I-5.
- Dorris Ranch: south of Springfield.
- Willow Creek Preserve: south and west of West 18th Avenue and Bertelsen Road in west Eugene.
- West Eugene Wetlands: near Greenhill Road, Royal Avenue, and West 11th Avenue west to Fern Ridge Reservoir.
- Coyote Creek Area: south of Cantrell Road.
- Camp Creek Road: east of Camp Creek Ridge.
- Oak and prairie habitats: near Crow Road and near Lorane Highway.
The timing of prescribed burns will be determined closer to the date, depending on resources, smoke management and weather conditions. Activity is expected to last through the end of October.
The practice of “fighting fire with fire” is a growing movement locally as land managers work to make prescribed burns as routine as mowing lawns or trimming hedges. The approach draws on centuries-old methods Indigenous peoples used to maintain oak savannas.
Federal policies removed both Indigenous peoples and fire from the landscape, disrupting the natural fire cycle. In recent decades, environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service have pushed to restore fire as a tool for shaping ecosystems.
