News Release

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and Sequoia National Forest Announce First Interagency Prescribed Burn

Date: September 22, 2017
Contact: Mike Theune, NPS Fire Info, 559-565-3703
Contact: Alicia Embrey, USFS Public Affairs, 559-784-1500 x1112

Kings Canyon National Park & Sequoia National Forest, Calif. September 22, 2017 – The USDA Forest Service and the National Park Service are planning to start the Sequoia Creek Prescribed Burn as early as this Monday, September 25, 2017. This date was selected due to favorable weather and approval by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. The burn is located north of Highway 180, between the Big Stump Entrance to Kings Canyon National Park and Wilsonia Village.

The total planned acreage for the project is 264-acres with 55-acres in Sequoia National Forest and 209-acres in Kings Canyon National Park. Ignitions are expected to take 3 to 4 days. A portion of the South Boundary Trail and the Hitchcock Meadow Trail will close for the duration of the burn. Other trails in Grant Grove will remain open.

Smoke impacts can be expected in the Grant Grove and Wilsonia areas during the day and in the Sequoia Lake area and the Highway 245 corridor at night. The Generals Highway should not experience any delays. 

A network of smoke monitors will be deployed throughout the area for this prescribed burn. The public can learn more about air quality and smoke by visiting www.airnow.gov or www.valleyair.org. 

This prescribed burn will support additional work that was done in the Grant Grove Peninsula. This includes the 819-acre Goliath Prescribed Burn and the McKenzie Ranch Fuels Reduction Project, both funded through the Resilient Landscapes Program and completed last year. Altogether, an estimated 725 acres will be treated with a combination of prescribed burning and mechanical treatments.

With a shared commitment to ensuring the future of our complex landscape, the USDA Forest Service and National Park Service work together to utilize a wide range of tools to restore forest habitat and the natural fire cycle through the safest and most efficient measures.  

Funding for this project was made possible through a partnership agreement under the Department of the Interior Wildland Fire Resilient Landscapes Program to address the holistic approach of fire and fuels management in the Grant Grove Peninsula and Area.

For more information on this prescribed fire please, visit Inciweb at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5621/ There, the public can find information about the prescribed burn, maps, and photos.