Lassen Volcanic National Park
Defensible Boundary Created through Fuels Reduction National Fire Plan – Fuels Reduction *
The Loomis area fire management project was completed for the primary purpose of reducing hazardous fuel loadings in the park and to help protect park resources and adjacent lands from the threat of wildfires. This project was strategically located to aid in creating a defensible boundary for the Wildland Fire Use program. At the same time it restored natural fire regimes to a significant portion of the park, it also supported successful and minimal impact suppression fires.
Lassen Volcanic National Park fire crew removed fuels in a unit adjacent to the Manzanita Lake developed area during the summer of 2007. This unit is predominantly Ponderosa and Jeffrey pine/white fir forest types. Due to the lack of natural fire in this area, white fir has encroached and become overcrowded, threatening the health of the historic pine stands, and creating a forest profile which will support a destructive crown fire.
This 40-acre unit treated an area that includes the Loomis Museum. The fire crew removed and piled all dead and down material greater than 3 inches in diameter and less than 18 inches in diameter. The crew also cut trees less than or equal to 10 inches in diameter in areas determined to be at high risk for crown fire. The piles that were created from this project will be burned in the spring or fall of 2008.
This successful project compliments treatments that were concurrently implemented through mechanical thinning in the Manzanita Lake Campground area.
Contact: Eric Hensel, Fire Management Officer Phone: (530) 595-4444 ext. 5168
