Single Publication

SONORA, California June 27, 2023 – With more than 4,000 acres treated with prescribed fire in the Strawberry, Dry Meadow, South Fork, and the Experimental Forest burn units complete and an extended warming trend entering the area, prescribed fire operations on the Summit District for the Spring season have come to a close.

“I can’t express enough how proud I am of the sheer volume of work that’s been completed over the last five weeks,” said Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor, Jason Kuiken. “We’ve really been able to show that with the right conditions and the availability of resources that were made available to us, that we are able to put fire on the ground at the pace and scale needed to properly reduce the risk to our communities and protect the critical infrastructure our community relies upon.”

In addition to the acres treated with prescribed fire, crews from all over California were able to prep more than 5,000 acres in the North Beardsley burn units for prescribed burn operations in the fall season. If conditions are favorable, the Stanislaus National Forest will also look to burn higher elevation locations with the North China burn plan.

Over the next week, firefighters will continue with mop up and patrol of the four different burn units. Patches of fuels within the unit lines will continue to smoke, especially in the recently burned units (S04 and S09 units close to the Pinecrest School, and along Crabtree Road). Crews continue to patrol other units on the project that were burned several weeks ago.

More than 1000 firefighters have been on the Stanislaus National Forest since prescribed fire operations began on May 26. The prescribed burn operation supports the Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy which combines a historic investment of congressional funding with years of scientific research and planning into a national effort that will dramatically increase the scale and pace of forest health treatments over the next decade. Through the strategy, the agency will work with states, Tribes and other partners to addresses wildfire risks to critical infrastructure, protect communities, and make forests more resilient.