Missoula County ramps up early burning amid weak winter

Martin Kidston

(Missoula Current) As the winter season winds down and spring draws near, Missoula County and its partners are racing to burn slash from recent work on Marshall Mountain while ensuring homeowners are prepared for the 2026 wildfire season.

Adriane Back, director of Disaster and Emergency Services at Missoula County, said the lack of moisture at low elevations are pressing an early and eager start to the burn season.

“This week is one of the best opportunities with some precipitation in the forecast,” Beck said. “They're up there (Marshall) trying to take advantage of the weather while it's here.”

Last year, the county secured a Community Wildfire Defense Grant. The five-year program provided up to $1.1 million, including a small match and $740,000 in federal funding.

Beck said the funding helps provide education and outreach. Last year, that included 40 preparedness meetings which reached 700 people. They also conducted 334 home assessments looking at the property's ignition zone and other wildfire threats.

“This time of the year is where they really try to capture people's awareness,” Beck said. “With the dry winter and spring burning, it has really picked up in 2026. We hope to see that number increase.”

The county last year also directed roughly $50,000 to support fuel treatment on 300 acres covering 47 individual properties. Much of that work will be followed with spring burning.

“This last legislative session, there was some movement to get more prescribed fire work on the ground, and making it a little easier for private property owners to become prescribed burners through DNRC,” Beck said. “There's still a lot of administrative rules that need to be developed around that.”

The county also collaborates with the Bureau of Land Management through a Community Assistance Grant, which also runs five years and provides $75,000 annually. Last year – the program's first – the county aided BLM with prescribed burns in the Blackfoot corridor.

This year, Beck said the county plans to continue its focus on spring burning and helping homeowners create a defensible space against wildfire.

But that work will depend on the availability of funding and qualified contractors.

“We're able to fund anyone that's interested in stepping forward,” she said. “But we're finally getting to a place where we're having to prioritize based on the burn rate. The contractor availability and the funds we have at any given year may not support that. We're having to put people on a wait list.”