BLM plans prescribed burns in Dolores County through May 2026

Smoke could drift across Dove Creek, Disappointment Valley and the West Rim east of Highway 141 as the Bureau of Land Management works prescribed burns on about 2,285 acres in Dolores, San Miguel and La Plata counties through May 2026.

The Dolores County pieces of that plan include the Dawson area south of Disappointment Valley and the West Rim area northeast of Dove Creek and east of Highway 141. Nearby work also includes Rabbit Mountain near Bayfield and Summit Point near the Utah border. The BLM says crews will burn only inside approved windows, only when weather and fuel conditions are safe and favorable, and with fire personnel on site throughout the operations.

That matters beyond the burn lines. The agency says smoke may be visible during active burning, especially in the afternoon, and can linger in low-lying areas during cooler evenings. For people with asthma, seniors, schools and anyone planning spring work or recreation, the short-term tradeoff is haze and possible visibility problems in exchange for reducing the fuel load that could feed a larger wildfire later. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment says its Colorado Smoke Blog tracks prescribed burning and wildfire smoke and includes a weekly Prescribed Fire Map, a tool residents can use when smoke starts drifting toward town or settling into the canyons.

The BLM says the point is not just scenery management. Prescribed fire is meant to reduce hazardous fuels, improve wildlife habitat and restore ecological health on public lands, while also protecting nearby communities from future large wildfires and the smoke-related health and safety risks that come with them. Tyler Corbin, a fuels specialist with the U.S. Wildland Fire Service, said crews look for the right weather window to put “good fire on the ground,” and that good fire now prevents bad fire later.

Dolores County has already seen how long this work can stretch. The West Dolores Rim project has been underway since 2008, and the BLM said in 2025 that it would burn 977 acres there after years of treatment. A February 2024 field manager report said 992 acres were accomplished in fiscal 2023 in the West Rim prescribed fire area and up to 1,594 acres were planned for fiscal 2024. That same report said additional Dawson units were designed with Colorado State University and the University of California, Berkeley, underscoring how closely the county’s fire work is tied to research and range management. In December 2023, firefighters burned 200 piles over about 20 acres at the Dawson Research Units in Disappointment Valley, another sign that this season’s smoke is part of a longer effort to keep a much worse fire from building in the dry country around Dove Creek.