Allegany County residents and travelers should not be alarmed by smoke
Maryland Department of Natural Resources wildland firefighter setting a fire line before a prescribed burn. Maryland DNR photo.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will conduct a controlled burn on Dan’s Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Allegany County in mid-November as weather and other conditions allow. The fire will create smoke. It will be a low, controlled flame targeting underbrush and ground cover debris. Anyone who sees smoke in the area southwest of Rawlings should be aware this is not a forest fire.
There are no homes or other structures nearby the controlled burn site. Trained wildland firefighters will establish firelines before the burn, and will ensure the burn is completed safely and efficiently.
The purpose of the burn is to improve habitat for wildlife and to restore stands of fire-dependent plant species such as pitch pine and table mountain pine.
”The flames will open up the pine cones, providing food for wildlife and helping a new generation of seedlings to grow,” said Richard Hess, habitat manager for DNR’s Wildlife and Heritage Service. “Restoring fire to the landscape provides numerous other benefits such as reducing the fuel load to lower wildfire risk, controlling invasive plant species, and improving regeneration of oak species.”
Access to the Dan’s Mountain primitive camping area and at Middle Ridge Road will be limited during the burn due to potential low visibility but will reopen as soon as the burn is completed.
DNR will announce the specific dates of the prescribed burn once determined that weather conditions are favorable.
