Spring brings prescribed burning throughout region to prevent future wildland fires
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Fri, 04/19/2024 - 12:32pm
Conditions and weather permitting, a number of prescribed fires are in the works through spring to remove fuels that can feed unwanted wildland fires.
There are two prescribed burns around the Lake Tahoe area this week, and a number of fires across the Sierra and into the foothills in western Nevada.
The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest’s Bridgeport and Carson Ranger Districts will begin prescribed fire operations in several locations on the Sierra Front, which is part of the Sierra and Elko Fronts Wildfire Crisis Strategy Landscape Project. Over the next several weeks, fire crews will conduct broadcast burns near Reno, Cold Springs, and Verdi and Walker, Calif.
Project burn locations:
Carson Ranger District
Approximately 343 acres in two locations in the Dog Valley Fuels Reduction Project area located in Sierra County, Calif. One area is west of Verdi, Nev.,, along Forest Service Road 002 just west of Summit One and Henness Pass Road, while the other is west of Cold Springs, Nev., off Forest Service Road 010.
Approximately 37 acres in the Whites Creek Fuels Reduction Project area in the southern part of Reno off Mt. Rose Highway (Nevada State Route 431) in Washoe County.
Bridgeport Ranger District
Approximately 222 acres in the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center Fuels Reduction Project in the Mill Canyon area northwest of Walker, California, off U.S. Route 395 in Mono County.
Prescribed fire notices will be posted near the project area. Forest users will not be able to recreate in the area when burning is occurring. Smoke will be visual during burning, so please do not call 9-1-1. Local fire departments are aware of these activities.
Forest Service advises that prescribed fire remains a "vital forest management tool used by land managers to decrease the threat of high-severity wildfires, reduce risk to homes and infrastructure, minimize human exposure to long periods of high-particulate smoke, and maintain clean drinking water. It also creates spaces from which firefighters can safely and effectively fight a future wildfire."
Burning excess vegetation also benefits forest health by improving wildlife forage and habitat, recycling nutrients back into the soil, reducing the spread of insects and disease, and controlling invasive plant and weed species.
Prescribed fire managers use different methods to reintroduce low-intensity fire into forests through pile, broadcast, and understory (underburning) burning. Broadcast burning is the method being used in Dog Valley, Mill Canyon, and Whites Creek Fuels Reduction Project areas. This type of prescribed fire focuses on burning surface fuels (e.g. grasses, needle cast, shrubs, small trees, and dead and downed material) in areas with little or no forest canopy present. Generally, it creates a mosaic pattern in the vegetation being burned, allowing for regeneration of different plant species, and breaking up the continuity of the vegetation. This promotes the health and diversity of different ecosystems.
Prescribed fire managers also create a burn plan, which includes smoke management details, fire control measures, acceptable weather parameters, and equipment and personnel needs. The burn plan also describes in detail how the ecosystem will benefit from fire. The actual days of ignition for the broadcast burn will depend on several factors including appropriate humidity levels, wind speed and direction, temperature, and fuel moisture. Burns only occur on days when weather conditions exist for smoke dispersal.
Air quality is an important value that is considered by land managers during every phase of the prescribed fire process from planning to implementation to avoid impacts to communities, minimize public health effects, and reduce visibility impairment on roadways. Before burning, prescribed fire managers coordinate with the appropriate state or local air quality regulatory agency or state forestry agency to ensure smoke is managed. For air quality data, visit:
Current Air Quality Index - https://www.airnow.gov/?city=Reno&state=NV&country=USA
Fire and Smoke Map - https://fire.airnow.gov/
When broadcast burning, the burn is split into several units which could give crews a place to stop ignitions if anything is out of the pre-established prescription conditions, such as too much wind. Crews can start again when conditions are more acceptable.
The public can get prescribed burn updates by visiting the Forest’s InciWeb (https://bit.ly/PrescribedFireInciWeb) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HumboldtToiyabeNF/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/HumboldtToiyabe) pages.
The Sierra and Elko Fronts Landscape has receive funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act to support the USDA Forest Service’s National Wildfire Crisis Strategy. Landscapes were chosen based on the potential for wildfire to affect nearby communities, critical infrastructure, public water sources, and Tribal lands. For more information on this strategy and how the Forest is furthering this effort, visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/htnf/landmanagement/?cid=FSEPRD1122888.
For information on burning activities on the Bridgeport and Carson Ranger Districts, please contact Fuels Specialist Steve Howell at steven.howell@usda.gov or 775-721-2064.
For additional information on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, please visit https://fs.usda.gov/htnf or participate in the conversation at https://twitter.com/HumboldtToiyabe and https://facebook.com/HumboldtToiyabeNF/.
