Whiskeytown National Recreation Area is planning to resume prescribed understory burning activities along the east boundary of the park within the East Boundary and Buck project areas. These project areas are approximately 100 - 300 acres in size, and are located along the Shasta Divide above the communities of Shasta and Centerville.
The overall goals of this project are to provide for firefighter and public safety, and reduce fuels within the wildland urban interface. The park is committed to restoring fire to fire-adapted forest communities where ever safe and effective wildland fire response allows.
With the transition to more spring-like weather, suitable prescribed fire conditions are expected to develop in the coming weeks into late May or early June that will allow for the safe and effective use of underburning activities. During the spring, the availability of vegetation to burn is generally limited due to moisture retained from winter precipitation. Additionally, much of the living vegetation that is dormant during winter begins to green-up and retain moisture. These elements help reduce the potential for sustained high intensity or severe fire activity.
The total project areas are subdivided into smaller units to minimize smoke impacts and to meet containment and control objectives. Fire crews plan to ignite individual units within the project area on multiple days throughout the coming months as conditions become favorable. Smoke will generally be visible from the Redding and Anderson areas during active ignition operations.
For additional information about planned burning, please call: the Fire Management Office at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area at 530-242-3443. For additional information about Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, please call the Visitor Venter at 530-246-1225, or visit the park’s website at www.nps.gov/whis.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
