Forest Service Conducts Prescribed Burn, Smoke Visible For Miles

PIKE NATIONAL FOREST (CBS4) - The U.S. Forest Service conducted a prescribed burn Tuesday in the Pike National Forest that could be seen from miles away.

The Trout Creek prescribed burn took place seven miles north of Woodland Park. Smoke was seen from Teller, Douglas, Jefferson, and El Paso counties.

The plan is to burn 800 acres of the Trout Creek area.

The Forest Service said prescribed burns have numerous benefits, including to help reduce hazardous fuels and therefore extreme fires, minimize the spread of pest insects and disease, remove unwanted species that threaten the native ecosystem, provide forage for game, improve habitat for threatened and endangered species, recycle nutrients, and promote growth of trees and other plants.

The ignited fire was a low intensity one to help regenerate the forest.