Fire Management staff at Point Reyes National Seashore plan to burn 25 acres along Limantour Road next week if weather conditions allow. Burning will be scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 17, but may be delayed a day or more if it is too wet, dry or windy, or if the air will not provide good smoke dispersion. The area to be burned is on the south side of Limantour Road, west of the Point Reyes Hostel.
The Limantour prescribed burn is part of a series of small burns and thinning projects along Limantour Road which will create a strategic fuelbreak where a wildfire will be easier to control. Limantour Road is a busy public corridor where ignitions from vehicles or campfires on Limantour Beach increase the potential for wildfire. Fuel reduction along this corridor will strengthen Limantour Road as a line of defense to protect surrounding communities, as well as the Point Reyes Hostel, the environmental education center, and park headquarters.
Most of the vegetation in the Limantour fuelbreak is coastal scrub, dominated by coyote brush. The 5 to 10 year burn rotation that is planned will keep the coyote brush low and widely spaced with a higher percentage of grass than in a mature coyote brush community. Maintaining younger patches of coastal scrub within the park will create places where fire will move more slowly and will also create habitat diversity. The area to be burned next week also includes some small islands of Bishop pine.
To receive an email when the burn day is confirmed, contact the park at 415-464-5133 or by email.
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Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
