Lake Tahoe fall prescribed fire program may begin next week
Contact: USDA Forest Service, Lisa Herron 530-721-3898 or
LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev., Sep. 19, 2023 – The Tahoe Fire & Fuels Team (TFFT) fall-prescribed fire program may begin as early as Monday, Sep. 25, 2023. If conditions and weather are favorable, California State Parks is scheduled to conduct understory burning on approximately 80 acres over the next three weeks in Burton Creek and Sugar Pine Point state parks and the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit may begin burning piles near Fallen Leaf Lake. Smoke will be present. For the current air quality index, visit AirNow and view the prescribed fire map with project details at Tahoe Living With Fire.
Historically, low-intensity wildfires ignited by lightning or native peoples routinely burned through fire-adapted ecosystems of the Sierra Nevada. These low-intensity fires burned at low temperatures and moved slowly across the ground removing forest debris such as pinecones, needles, limbs, dead and downed trees, and ladder fuels. Watch the Forest Service video for an in-depth explanation of low-intensity fire. Prescribed fires are meant to mimic these naturally occurring low-intensity fires that are essential to fire-adapted ecosystems.
Prescribed fire managers use different methods to remove excess vegetation (fuels) and reintroduce low-intensity fire into forests through pile, broadcast, and understory burning. Pile burning involves burning slash piles that are constructed by hand or mechanical equipment. Broadcast and understory burning use low-intensity fire to remove fuels under specific environmental conditions with fire confined to a predetermined area.
Prescribed fires are a vital forest management tool used by land managers to help protect communities by removing fuels that can feed unwanted wildland fires. Burning excess vegetation also benefits forest health by making room for new growth which provides forage for wildlife, recycles nutrients back into the soil, and helps reduce the spread of insects and disease.
Prescribed fires may take place any time of year when conditions are favorable. Fall and winter typically bring cooler temperatures and precipitation, which are ideal for conducting prescribed fire operations. Each operation follows a specialized burn plan, which considers smoke dispersal conditions, temperature, humidity, wind, and vegetation moisture. All of this information is used to decide when and where to burn.
The TFFT strongly supports the use of prescribed fire under appropriate conditions and works closely with air quality districts to avert smoke impacts on the public. Smoke from prescribed fires is normal and may continue for several days after an ignition depending on the project size, conditions, and weather. Prescribed fire smoke is generally less intense and of much shorter duration than smoke produced by unwanted wildfires. View smoke management tips.
Prior to prescribed fire ignitions, agencies coordinate closely with local and state air quality agencies to monitor the weather for favorable conditions that can disperse smoke, conduct test burns before igniting larger areas to verify how well vegetation is consumed and how smoke rises and disperses before proceeding, post signs on roadways in areas affected by prescribed fire operations, email notifications to the prescribed fire notification list, and update the local fire information line at 530-543-2816. The TFFT gives as much advance notice as possible before burning, but some operations may be conducted on short notice due to the small window of opportunity for implementing these projects.
To be added to the prescribed fire notification list,
