Annual reports for the Mineral King Risk Reduction Project are available from the Fire Information Cache.
Sequoia National Park is embarking on a series of prescribed burns in the Mineral King area. Fires such as these reduce hazardous forest fuel buildup, protect public safety, and restore ecosystems to a more natural state.
The Mineral King area is a top priority for risk-reduction burns. Large accumulations of dead trees, forest debris and heavy brush surround visitor facilities and private development, all within a steep, narrow canyon. Fires starting low in the canyon would quickly race upslope, putting people, property and the Mineral King ecosystem in danger.
Research in Mineral King's Atwell Grove of sequoias has revealed some of the area's fire history. The annual rings of wood created as trees grow record the fires that burned hot enough to penetrate the tree bark. Studies of these fire scars on tree rings show that, before humans learned to put fire out, flames moved through parts of the Atwell Grove an average of every six years!
Due to years of fire suppression, wildfires in much of the West have increased in size and intensity over the past two decades. In 1994, the financial cost to fight wildfires across the country was around $1 billion. The human cost? The lives of 34 firefighters.
The Mineral King Risk-Reduction Burn Project is a multi-year plan to reduce the potential for intense wildfires as well as the high cost of fighting them. Burning adjoining areas over a number of years will create a patchwork of areas with less fuel and younger growth; these will slow the spread of inevitable future fires.
Annual reports for the Mineral King Risk Reduction Project are available from the Fire Information Cache.
