Lassen National Forest fire management officials are preparing for their annual spring prescribed burn operations on all three Ranger Districts. When weather and fuel conditions become optimal, fire crews will apply fire to the landscape using planned tactics designed to accomplish project objectives.
Prescribed burns are designed to reduce the threat and severity of catastrophic fires across the landscape by consuming flammable vegetation on the forest floor. Returning fire to the landscape can also help improve the health and resiliency of forests and enhance the forest’s fire-dependent ecosystems by releasing nutrients into soils. Additional benefits include forage renewal for wildlife.
Each prescribed burn has a detailed prescribed fire plan that is developed from comprehensive planning efforts conducted long before project activities are initiated.
“Public safety is always the first consideration of all fire management operations,” assures Steve Griffin, Lassen National Forest’s fire management officer. “If conditions are not quite right for burning, we simply won’t burn.”
Specifically, on the Eagle Lake Ranger District, approximately 1365 acres of understory burning is planned in the following locations:
- Bull Defensible Fuel Profile Zone (DFPZ) – 400 acres in the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest
- Summit DFPZ – 465 acres on the east side of Logan Mountain
- Bailey Restoration Project – 300 acres northwest of Campbell Mountain
- Houseman and Signal DFPZs – 200 acres around Dow Butte, approximately 6 miles north of the community of Spalding.
Depending on weather conditions during the prescribed burning, smoke from these projects could be visible from Susanville, the Eagle Lake Basin, Westwood, Spalding, and while traveling on Highways 44 and 139, and County Roads A1 and A21.
The Almanor Ranger District is planning on burning approximately 74 acres of oak and pine this spring on the Smoky UB project. The project area is located in Eastern Tehama County, 13 miles north/northeast of the community of Cohasset, 2 miles west of Butte Meadows, and 11 miles due north of Forest Ranch.
Implementation will occur in April or May when conditions become optimal for burning. Smoke from this project will likely be visible from many points in the valley, including the Chico area.
The Hat Creek Ranger District plans to burn up to 300 acres in the Old Station area and up to 1000 acres on the Eastside project, which includes areas around Coyote Reservoir, Blacks Ridge and Halls Flat.
For more information about the district prescribed burn programs contact the following:
- Almanor Ranger District – Jeff St. Clair, District Fuels Officer at 530-258-2141.
- Eagle Lake Ranger District – Chuck Lewis, District Fuels Officer at 530-257-4188.
- Hat Creek Ranger District – Debbie Mayer, District Fire Management Officer at 530-336-5521.
Monitor the Lassen National Forest’s Twitter and Facebook accounts to get more timely information on these projects.
