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News Release:
Lower Trinity District Spring Burning
[Shield]: US Forest Service

US Forest Service
Six Rivers National Forest

Contact:
Julie Ranieri
(707) 441-3673
jranieri@fs.fed.us

Eureka, March 29, 2007

The Lower Trinity Ranger District of the Six Rivers National Forest is planning to conduct prescribed burning on approximately 250 acres of National Forest System lands this spring according to Acting District Ranger Brenda Ehmann.

These ongoing prescribed burn projects are part of the Forest Service efforts to reduce hazardous fuel accumulations which could contribute to extreme fire behavior should a wildfire occur. Prescribed burning is used as a tool by fire managers; fire is ignited under a defined set of weather and fuel conditions to meet specific management and resource objectives. The conditions monitored include: humidity, temperature, wind speed and direction, fuel moisture, and smoke dispersal. "To ensure that conditions and forecasts are favorable for understory burning operations, we are required to attain a Spot Weather Forecast from the National Weather Service and be in compliancance with all North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District regulations," said Ehmann. Prescribed burning produces visible smoke during the ignition phase and for a short period thereafter. Burning will be conducted under conditions which favor smoke dispersal and limit impacts on local residents.

The areas planned for understory burning include:

  1. Northwest of Salyer Heights, near the Campbell Ridge road,
  2. North of Hawkins Bar and Trinity Village off Forest Service Route 4, and
  3. South of Horse Mountain on Forest Service Route 1.

"I would like to thank the local communities, especially Salyer Heights and Hawkins Bar, for being patient with our winter pile burning program," said Ehmann. "The continued support from these communities has helped the Forest Service achieve the goals of reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires and improving fire fighter safety on the Salyer/Hawkins Bar community Protection Fuels Project," continued Ehmann.

Burning will commence this spring, as weather and fuel conditions moderate to allow the Forest Service to meet resource and management objectives associated with this project.

Further information about the prescribed burn program can be obtained from the Lower Trinity Ranger District Office on Highway 96 in Willow Creek or by contacting Paul Johnson, Battalion Chief/Fuels, at (530) 629-2118.

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