Residents and visitors may find temporary trail closures, forest-thinning crews and prescribed burns this fall on popular hiking and mountain biking trails west of Bend.

While the work may be inconvenient, it will help improve forest health, reduce the risk of large-scale forest fires and help ensure the prized recreation areas will continue to attract locals and tourists for many years.

A representative of the group overseeing the work asked Bend tourism officials for help Tuesday.

Ruth Williamson would like Visit Bend and its tourism-related partners to educate tourists about the project and update them on work zones.

“Our forests are really unhealthy,” Williamson told the tourism agency’s board. “And in terms of our recreation infrastructure, our trailhead network in particular, there’s a significant investment that this community has made and relies upon … and we want to protect that.”

The thinning efforts are part of a $22 million, forest-restoration plan called the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project, implemented by the Deschutes National Forest. The decade-long project, funded by federal dollars, will span 144,000 acres from north of Sisters to Sunriver, impacting recreation areas including: Phil’s Trail Complex, Virginia Meissner Sno-park, Deschutes River trail, Todd Lake and Skyline Forest.

“It’s an important project that has a direct impact to tourism,” said Doug La Placa, CEO and president of Visit Bend. “The national forest surrounding Bend is one of the most important tourism assets we have as a destination.”

However, La Placa said, forest fires are one of the few threats that could bring Bend’s tourism industry and its economy to a halt, so he believes the project is a critical step to protecting the asset for the long term.

The entire collaborative effort has been divided into nine smaller projects. Work is scheduled to begin with the West Bend portion, taking place in about 26,000 acres west of Bend, in September, said Williamson, part of the Deschutes Collaborative Forest Steering Committee.

Access to certain trails may be temporarily disrupted, Williamson said, and visitors and residents may encounter crews thinning out small trees, brush and undergrowth. She expects work on the West Bend effort to take about three years.

“Its going to be messy in the interim as we get to that,” Williamson said. “(But) the temporary inconvenience is worth it because the outcome is going to be a fire-resistant landscape and a well-balanced ecosystem.”