Redwood National and State Parks Conducting Prescribed Burns in Bald Hills Area Starting Tuesday

This is a press release from Redwood National and State Parks:

ORICK, Calif. — Redwood National and State Parks will conduct a series of prescribed burns this fall in the prairies and oak woodlands of the Bald Hills east of Orick, Calif. The prescribed fire season in the parks generally begins in late September or as weather conditions permit. The first scheduled burn date for the Bald Hills area is Tuesday, Sept. 25.

This year fire will be used as a management tool in seven specific burn units in the Bald Hills: Upper and Lower Airstrip, Lower Airstrip Expansion, Wooden Gate, Upper and Lower Counts and Lower Dolason. All seven units combined total approximately 960 acres.

If you are in the parks over the next couple of months, there will likely be additional activity and equipment on and near Bald Hills Road. Smoke may linger on the roadways and traffic control may be in place. Please be cautious for your safety, as well as for those working on the prescribed burns. To see videos of past burns and learn more about prescribed fire as a management tool, visit the RNSP website “fire videos” page at: https://www.nps.gov/redw/learn/photosmultimedia/firevideos.htm

For thousands of years, Yurok, Tolowa, Chilula, and Hupa people managed prairies and oak woodlands, and some coastal areas that are now within the parks with periodic fire to keep them open. Intentional burning provided grazing and hunting areas for elk and deer, maintained important resources like tanoak trees and various basket weaving materials, kept trail and travel corridors open, and lessened the prevalence of parasites like ticks in the prairies. Early settlers who homesteaded the prairies continued the practice of broadcast burning until it was outlawed by the state in the 1930s. Since then, many of the prairies and oak woodlands have become encroached with Douglas fir and other conifers which can eventually eliminate these important plant communities.

The park’s 2015 Fire Management Plan provides for the use of fire to restore natural and cultural processes, manage exotic plants and conifers encroaching into prairie and oak woodland plant communities, and to interpret and educate the public about the role of fire in the parks. The parks have successfully used prescribed fires to achieve these objectives since the early 1980’s.

For further information about the prescribed fire program, please contact Rick Young at (707) 465-7732. For more information about Redwood National and State Parks, stop by park visitor centers open seven days a week. Information can also be obtained by visiting the RNSP website at:  www.nps.gov/redw.

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Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago

Parks rationalize man made destruction of nature as good if local tribes did some of it historically but then turn around to condemn similar destruction if modern man were to do the same thing. Who made them so arrogant as to be the arbiters of whether nature is good or bad based on the idea of no change from the state of things when they arrived on scene? Especially when nature itself has other ideas.

Concerned Trinity County Resident
Guest
Concerned Trinity County Resident
5 years ago

Too soon, too dry, too windy; no rain in the forseeable forcast; what are they thinking or are they even thinking?

Brian
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Brian
5 years ago

Yep, i think Lewiston lost structures to a controlled burn many many years ago, around this time of year.

However, they are saying “when weather permits” so hopefully its a good crew with good heads and a good burn.

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/31/us/controlled-blaze-that-wasn-t-haunts-firefighters-in-california.html

*23 lewiston homes lost to controlled burn..

Al
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Al
5 years ago
Reply to  Brian

Brian, Well said, seems like they could try it closer to November.

Hick
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Hick
5 years ago

A little early.

HumboldtBiologist
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HumboldtBiologist
5 years ago

Frequent low intensity burns will help us prevent large tinder box blazes

nines
Guest
5 years ago

What could possibly go wrong?

Al
Guest
Al
5 years ago

Too early, why not wait until the last week of October, the November rains could put anything that gets out of control out?

Humboldt local
Guest
Humboldt local
5 years ago

Why not let the burn boss decide.
If you wait till it’s too wet it would t burn right.making more hazardous conditions for next year.

Lack of understanding of fire ecology has gotten us into this explosive situation