Prescribed fires will resume in Sierra and beyond, after review of two that went awry
The U.S. Forest Service will resume prescribed burning after a three-month pause to review two that got badly out of control.
Chief Randy Moore’s decision will jump-start efforts in the Sierra Nevada and elsewhere to thin trees, brush and grass from overly dense stands.
The review followed a 340,000-acre blaze in New Mexico that investigators traced to two prescribed burns overseen by the Forest Service in April. The escaped fires merged and eventually destroyed 435 homes and singed public and private forest.
Moore ordered a tightening of prescribed burn planning in his Sept. 8 decision, while noting that New Mexico was an anomaly: The agency sets about 4,500 fires a year, treating about 1.3 million acres. Of these, 99.84% do not escape.
“Prescribed fire plays a vital role in creating healthy, resilient landscapes and reducing the risk of catastrophic fire to the American people and the lands entrusted to our care,” Moore said in a news release. “We are fully committed to using this critical tool safely and effectively in collaboration with tribes, partners and communities.”
Wind, fuel moisture matter
Burn bosses try to set the fires at times when the vegetation is not too dry. They also monitor wind to ensure that excessive smoke does not blow toward populated areas. Moore ordered more frequent communication about the conditions among the planners.
The pause had little practical effect in California because its summers are generally hot and dry. Prescribed burning happens from fall to spring and also involves private grazing and timber land protected by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The practice has support from a Tuolumne County coalition that also seeks to use selective logging to reduce wildfire fuel. It is called Yosemite-Stanislaus Solutions and takes in the national park and adjacent national forest.
$55 million for Tuolumne
YSS this year helped secure a $55 million federal grant that will go toward creating fuel breaks and a mosaic of forest treatments.
“This national level approval to begin applying prescribed burns again is especially important for our local region,” said an email from coalition co-founder John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center. “... It will take many years to get all that work done, but it needs to be ramped up as soon as possible.”
The national effort also involves Indigenous people. Their ancestors set frequent fires that kept the forest under-story open, aided by lightning strikes. European-Americans put out almost every fire, contributing to the fuel buildup.
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
