Prescribed burn set

SANDPOINT — Do not be alarmed if you see fire and smoke on Gold Hill when you’re crossing the Long Bridge in the coming weeks.

The Idaho Department of Lands is conducting a prescribed burn on the west side of Gold Hill to reduce slash loading following a salvage timber sale.

The burn is planned for later this month or early April, according to Chris Remsen, an IDL fire warden with the Pend Oreille Lake Forest Protective District.

The exact date and time of the burn is dependent upon fuel moisture and weather conditions that will minimize smoke impacts to local residents.

Although IDL is coordinating the project with the North Idaho Airshed Group to select a day with atmospheric conditions conducive to good smoke dispersion, IDL said short-term smoke impacts are expected.

The slash burn project is on 15 acres of state endowment lands in Sagle, about a half-mile south of Hays Gulch. The 600-million-board-foot salvage sale was auctioned in the fall of 2008.