Photo by Deb Gau U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representatives Andy Stetter and Mike Budd speak to Lyon County commissioners on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is looking at conducting a controlled burn at a Lyon County waterfowl production area in the future. However, the burn could temporarily closing part of the main road leading to the Lyon County landfill.

Fish and Wildlife Service representatives talked about the proposal with Lyon County commissioners on Tuesday.

“We don’t shut down roads for every burn,” said Mike Budd, project leader for the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge and Wetland Management District.”This one is just a proposal to see if it’s in the interests of everybody to shut down the road. It’s not guaranteed.”

Budd and Andy Stetter said they were at this week’s Lyon County commissioner meeting partly to introduce themselves.

“We manage the waterfowl production areas in Lincoln and Lyon County,” Budd said.

They said the meeting was also a chance for fire management officer Phil Millette to present on a planned controlled burn at Black Rush Lake WPA, which is located near Camden State Park and the landfill.

Budd said Black Rush Lake WPA is the largest waterfowl production area in Lyon and Lincoln counties, at more than 900 acres.

Millette said he was planning to do a burn at Black Rush Lake, that could possibly take place in April or May. Depending on conditions, smoke from the burn could reduce visibility on Lyon County Road 59, which runs along the north side of the WPA.

“This burn is a challenging one logistically, one because of the size. There’s a lot of moving parts, and a lot of local residences I also try not to blow smoke at,” Millette said.

“For the purposes of this conversation, I would be looking at closing down portions of County Road 59,” mainly between Minnesota Highway 23 and 200th Avenue, he said. “I realize that is a heavily used road by the landfill trucks.”

Millette said a portion of the road would likely be closed for one to three hours.

The landfill does have two other access points on the north and east, Millette said. With the right wind conditions, County Road 59 may not need to be closed, he said.

Millette said the plan would be to coordinate with the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office before starting a burn. The crew would also have signs and flaggers to direct traffic if the county road is closed.

Lyon County Environmental Administrator Roger Schroeder said he had one concern, that waste haulers would not be able to approach the landfill from the north if County Road 59 was closed.

“We have it posted already that no garbage trucks are allowed to come from that direction,” Schroeder said.

However, he said there might be alternatives.

“We do think if it plays out well, that we can have trucks access from our west access and then wrap around to the scale to weigh in,” he said.

Commissioners asked Sheriff Eric Wallen if he would have a problem with the road being temporarily closed.

“If the road’s going to be impassable because you can’t see, it makes sense to shut it down,” Wallen said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, there was no specific time frame brought forward for the proposed burn, and commissioners didn’t take any actions related to it. However, commissioners did have questions and comments about the management of WPAs and easements managed by the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Commissioner Rick Anderson said he had concerns about how burns were conducted.

“I don’t like having to shut down a road just because you want to burn,” Anderson said.

Plus, he said, “You guys have got to be a little more respectful of parking on the roads.”

Anderson and other commissioners said they thought the Fish and Wildlife Service needed to focus on taking care of the lands it managed, including weed control and drainage issues.