BLM plans prescribed fire projects in in northeast California, northwest Nevada

ALTURAS, Calif. – Fire crews from the Bureau of Land Management Applegate Field Office will conduct prescribed burns in various northeast California and northwest Nevada locations during the fall and winter months. Projects are designed to improve habitat conditions and reduce wildfire risk. They include burning piles of brush and limbs created in fuels reduction projects, and broadcast burns on larger landscapes.

Burning could get underway in mid October and will continue into winter months when fuel and weather conditions allow for safe and successful burning.

“The prescribed burns will help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire associated with high fuel loading in the Wildland Urban Interface, will improve firefighter safety and effectiveness in the event of a wildfire,” said Craig Drake, manager of the BLM Applegate Field Office in Alturas.  “These burns will also help prevent wildfire damages to natural resources and communities.”

Broadcast burns, which are carefully managed fires across larger areas, include a 490-acre project in the Hogback area near Fall River Mills, a 150-acre project near the community of Cassel, and a four-acre research-related burn in Washoe County, Nevada, east of Fort Bidwell.

Prescribed pile burn locations and details are as follows:

• Modoc Gulch, 4 miles southeast of Dorris, California, piled juniper in a 200-acre project area;
• Vya projects, 20 miles northeast of Fort Bidwell, California, piled juniper in a 1,600-acre area;
• Twin Lakes, 18 miles southeast of Cedarville, California, 700-acre project area of piled juniper;
• Ryegrass Swale, 9 miles south of Alturas, California, 100 acres of piled juniper;
• Nelson Corral, 6 miles northwest of Madeline, California, 50 acres of piled juniper;
• Duck Flat and Tuledad, 20 miles south of Eagleville, California, 2,000 acres of piled juniper;
• Bull Creek, 10 miles east of Cedarville, California, 900 acres of piled juniper;
• Stone Breaker, 5 miles east of Bieber, California, 100 acres of piled juniper; and
• Mt Dome, 12 miles southeast of Dorris, California, 70 acres of piled brush and juniper.

The BLM’s fuels management program conducts a wide variety of management vegetation treatments using mechanical, biological, and chemical tools, prescribed grazing, and prescribed fire. The program includes creating fuel breaks to protect resources and provide safe access for firefighters, and reducing fuel loads by removing trees, shrubs, juniper and invasive species. Projects are also designed to reduce wildfire risk near communities and infrastructure.

Crews conduct prescribed fires in accordance with burn plans that specify allowable weather and fuel conditions, and the personnel and equipment required.

More information is available by contacting the BLM Applegate Field Office at 530-233-4666.