Fire managers from Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks completed a prescribed fire this fall that achieved multiple goals for the parks.
This 226-acre fire is one in a series of steps the parks undertook to reduce the risk of unwanted fire for the Grant Grove area. Visitor hotels and cabins, National Park Service and concession employee housing, and the private community of Wilsonia will all enjoy improved fire protection as a result of this prescribed fire.
This unit was a concern for fire managers for multiple reasons. This fire was a restoration burn. This means that fire was being introduced here after more than 100 years of fire exclusion. This created an unnaturally dense amount of fuels that had accumulated over the years in the absence of the naturally-cycling fire regime of every 10-15 years.
Additionally, a tussock moth invasion in the late 1990s left a high number of standing dead trees-- particularly white fir-- that created an increased fire hazard.
Fire managers saw excellent fire behavior with consumption of the dead and downed fuels on the forest floor as well as torching in some of the standing dead trees.
This project was an educational highlight for visitors in the area. Aerial ignitions in particular attracted crowds to watch the operations. The patience of visitors and residents while smoke was in the area contributed to the successful completion of this prescribed fire.
This fire is one in a series of concerted steps that fire managers have taken to reduce hazardous fuels in Grant Grove. Multiple mechanical thinning projects around Wilsonia and Grant Grove employee housing, prescribed fires over the last five years, and coordinated efforts to create a “fire safe” community in Wilsonia have demonstrated that fire managers have been dedicated to reducing the fuels, involving the community, and achieving the ecological benefits of fire.
“I am very pleased with the initial results of this fire,” said Dave Bartlett, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks Fire Management Officer. “The burn restored the effects of fire including reducing fuels on the ground. This will help protect local communities, such as Wilsonia, from wildfire and will preserve park forests for the future.”
Contact: Deb Schweizer , Sequoia and King's Canyon NP Fire Education Specialist
Phone: (559) 565-3703
*This story supports the National Fire Plan |
