Eldorado National Forest

Fire and Aviation - Fuels Management

"Decades of fire suppression have often produced overcrowded vegetation in our forest, weakening trees and rendering them more susceptible to pests, diseases, and displacement by invasive species. Too often, the result is soil erosion and habitat degradation especially in sensitive areas such as stream, lakes, and wetlands."
Dale Bosworth, Chief of the Forest Service, September 2001

To protect the homes and improve the health of the forest, we must reduce the fuels. Right now many places on the forest are set up for an intense wildland fire. There is extreme fuel loading, a greater density of dead and dying trees, and more structures in the forest. We have a hot, dry windy climate, steep topography and numerous fire starts, both human and natural. Climate and topography we cannot change. Fuels we can modify and we can educate the public on fire safety. In turn, firefighter safety will increase and the loss of structures will decrease.

Vegetation that allows the fire to move from lower fuels into higher fuel layers is called ladder fuel. Flames from the fuels at the ground level, such as pine needles, can be carried into taller fuels, such as a shrub, which can ignite still taller fuels, such as tree branches. You need to reduce the ladder fuels and reduce the accumulation of surface and ground fuels to decrease the intensity of a wildland fire. The benefits of reducing the fuel include a reduced competition for light, moisture, and nutrients. A decreased mortality to the remaining larger older trees and a decrease of insects and disease due to the maintained or increase growth in the healthy trees.

Mechanical treatments can be designed to remove or rearrange fuels, prepare areas for future fire applications by removing excessive ladder and surface fuels, and can be especially useful in sensitive areas. Smoke emissions and the fire intensity are reduced through the use of mechanical equipment: mastication, biomass removal, shredding, chipping, and handcut removal. We must use all our tools to communicate the issues and options to reduce the fuel. Doing nothing can have severe consequences on public and private land. Insect, disease, and wildland fires do not recognize property lines.

Fuels Projects Winter 2012

Prescribed burns are planned to occur in the following Eldorado National Forest locations:

• Amador Ranger District:
  Prospect Rock Prescribed Burn – 1,037 acres located on the
  north side of Hwy 88 across from Hams Station and south of the Cosumnes River. For more information contact 209-295-4251. This project is planned to begin October 23, 2011.
  The Lost Horse understory burn, approximately 800 acres, located north of Highway 88 and Northwest of Peddler Hill CalTrans Maintenance Station and east of Herhtin Springs Road. For more information contact 209-295-4251.
• Placerville Ranger District:
  Iron Trap understory burn, approximately 1,375 acres, located along 3 miles of the Morman Emigrant Trail (Iron Mountain Road) near Silver Fork road, Alder Creek road, and Leek Springs Lookout. For more information contact 530-644-2324.
  • Iron Trap Map (pdf)
• Pacific Ranger District:
  Peavine Research Natural Area - 800 acres. 255 acres of District burn piles located east of Icehouse Reservoir, in the White Meadows area, and in the Loon Lake area. For more information contact 530-644-2349.
• Georgetown Ranger District:
  Hartless Pile Burn - 500 acres located on Wentworth Springs Road near Stumpy Meadows Reservoir. Darling Eaglet Prescribed Burn - 365 acres located on Darling Ridge Road approximately 2 miles South of Lake Walton. For more information contact 530-333-4312.

Every prescribed burn is designed to minimize smoke drifting into residential areas. Any one with respiratory illness or thinks the smoke might adversely affect them should contact the nearest Eldorado National Forest Ranger Station to be placed on a “sensitive persons” pre-burn notification list. Smoke may continue to be present for days after the fires are started due to the large scale of the projects and will be visible from the Highway 88 and 50. Persons driving in the vicinity of the burns may encounter reduced highway visibility.