Forest Service News Release
Media Contact: Ruth Esperance
(605) 381-5111
www.fs.usda.gov/stnf; www.facebook.com/ShastaTrinityNF
Shasta-Trinity National Forest to Implement
Prescribed Burn near Mt Shasta
Redding, CA, April 28, 2023 — The Mt Shasta-McCloud Management Unit (SMMU) of the Shasta Trinity National Forest, is planning to begin implementation of the McBride Vegetation Project. Implementation is scheduled to occur Sunday, possibly extending into early next week, when weather conditions, vegetation moisture, and on-site conditions are favorable to use prescribed fire across about 100 acres to achieve project objectives.
The prescribed burn units are one-mile west of McBride Springs Campground, just south of the Everitt Memorial Hwy. Please use caution when traveling along Everitt Memorial Hwy. Wildland fire engines, vehicles, and fire personnel may be working on and adjacent to the roadway.
The project’s goals are to reduce dead and downed limbs, logs, litter, and duff, commonly referred to as surface fuels. Using prescribed fire to reduce these surface fuels will contribute to reducing fuel loading, reducing future fire intensity in the event of a wildfire, aiding nutrient recycling (nitrogen), improving wildlife habitat, and overall supporting a healthy forest ecosystem.
It is anticipated that smoke will be visible from Mount Shasta City, Weed, along Interstate 5 near Mount Shasta, and McCloud. The impact of smoke on communities is taken into careful consideration and prescribed fire managers will be working closely with officials from the local county Air Resource Board of Siskiyou County to ensure the prescribed burn is not initiated unless it meets smoke dispersal standards.
Fire is a natural component of a healthy forest. Historically low-intensity fires would have normally occurred every 5-10 years in Northeastern California. Low-intensity fires are those fires that have low flame lengths and consume the woody material on the forest floor along low-lying shrubs. Prescribed fire managers try to mimic these low-intensity fires to reduce hazardous downed materials and help the forest renew the growth cycle. Often one can see new grass sprouts shooting up from the soil weeks after a low-intensity prescribed burn in the area. These new grasses draw foraging animals like deer back into the area. The animals will continue returning to the area as new shrubs resprout in later months.
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