Six Rivers National Forest to Continue Spring Burning

This is a press release from the Six Rivers National Forest:

EUREKA, CA – As long as the weather remains favorable, Six Rivers National Forest fire management staff will continue its spring burning program. The forest conducts prescribed burning when weather conditions allow for safe and efficient burning.

Prescribed fires are a tool used by forest managers to reduce the severity of potential future wildfires by removing hazardous fuels, provide added protection for communities in the wildland urban interface (WUI), improve forest health and enhance wildlife habitat.

The Six Rivers conducts both understory and pile burning. A low-intensity understory burn uses a controlled application of fire to remove excess vegetation, such as leaves, needles and shrubs confined to a specific area. Pile burning is intended to remove excess fuels, such as branches, limbs and stumps that have been piled by hand or mechanical equipment.

Before any burning begins, the forest works with the National Weather Service and the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District (Del Norte, Humboldt and Trinity counties) and the Northeast Air Alliance (Siskiyou County) to ensure compliance with state and federal burning regulations.

District (from north to south) plans include:

Smith River NRA-Gasquet Ranger District – 21 acres Understory burns:

• 20 acres in the Gordon Hill Vegetation and Fuels Management Project, located near the community of Gasquet.

Pile burning:

• 1 acre on the Gasquet Ranger Station compound.
Smoke may be visible from the town of Gasquet on Highway 199, but should not affect highway travel.

Orleans/Ukonom Ranger District – 57 acres Understory burns:

• 6.5 acres as part of the Roots and Shoots Cultural Burn (Unit 13), located approximately 25 miles up Forest Service Road 15N01 (G-O Road); and
• 50 acres of piles in Orleans Community Fuels Reduction Project (OCFR), units are spread around the town of Orleans.
  Burning could start as early as May 20, 2019. Smoke may be visible from Highway 96 and may be visible from various county roads.

Lower Trinity Ranger District – 45 acres Understory burns:

• Approximately 4 acres to enhance beargrass in the East Fork Campground area, located west of Willow Creek.

Pile burning:
• 40 acres within the Waterman Ridge Project, east of Willow Creek.

Mad River Ranger District – 132 acres Understory burning:

• 115 acres in the Beaverslide Timber Sale and Fuel Treatment Project, south of Ruth Lake on Forest Service Road 27N34; and
• 52 acres in the Lucky Timber Sale, south of Ruth Lake and about a half mile north of Three Forks on County Road 504.
  Pile burning:
• 4 acres of machine piles along the 2015 contingency dozer fire line in the Goat Rock area, southwest of Black Lassic and north of Watts Lake Campground on Forest Service Road 2S08;
• 112 acres of machine piles in the Little Gulch Timber Sale area, south of Ruth in the Jones Ridge and Cobb Ridge area on Forest Service Roads 27N02 and 27N33;
• 10 acres of hand piles between the Mad Ridge Fuelbreak and the Van Duzen River Road community on Forest Service Road 1N05 within the Van Duzen Vegetation Management Project; and
• Administrative site burns at Ruth, Mad River and Zenia Guard Stations, as well as district campgrounds.
  Smoke may be visible from State Highway 36 and the communities of Mad River, Van Duzen, Hettenshaw Valley, Kettenpom, Zenia, Alder Point, Blocksburg and Ruth, but will not affect any major travel routes.
  “If these burns are not completed this spring, they will be completed later in the year, when weather conditions may be more favorable,” said Josh Mathiesen, fire chief for the forest.
  For additional information, please contact Matt Holmstrom, deputy fire chief, at (707) 441-3575 or [email protected].