For Release: September 13, 2005 CCal-05-85
Contact: Anne Halford (760) 872-5022

BLM to Conduct Field Tour of Mono Basin Fuels Reduction Project Area

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) invites anyone interested in the recently approved Mono Basin fuels reduction project to tour the area on Saturday, October 1, 2005. Field tour participants should meet at the Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor Center parking lot at 10 a.m. to carpool to Rancheria Gulch. Participants should be prepared for some moderate hiking and bring a lunch or snacks. The tour concludes at about 1 p.m. The purpose of the tour is to provide the public with information about this project and emerging fuels treatment issues.

BLM Bishop Field Manager Bill Dunkelberger said the effort is both a scientific study and fuels treatment project on public lands in the Rancheria Gulch and Trench Canyon areas. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will study the effects of two different fuels treatment methods prescribed for this project: cutting, piling and burning pinyon pine on site or mulching pinyon with a low impact, rubber-tired, masticating machine and leaving the mulched material on site. Both the effectiveness in reducing fire intensity and the ecological effects of the two methods will be evaluated

"This is an extremely important effort to help guide future fuels treatments throughout the Great Basin," said Dunkelberger, who recently authorized the project after gathering public comments last July. "There is scientific evidence that vegetative fuels throughout the pinyon woodlands of the eastern Sierra are now outside their natural range of variability for the current climatic conditions, making these areas, including the Mono Basin, highly susceptible to large, high-intensity wildland fires. There is graphic, recent evidence of the devastating effects of such large, high-intensity fires locally in Antelope Valley and elsewhere," Dunkelberger continued.

"Human and resource impacts as well as suppression costs from these fires have been staggering. Reducing fuels buildup to protect communities and natural resources is among BLM's highest priorities. As land management agencies apply larger-scale fuels treatments across the landscape, it is crucial to understand which types of treatments are most effective and beneficial, both ecologically and economically," Dunkelberger said.

The treatments applied will also directly reduce the intensity of potential wildfires in this wildland urban interface area. "We hope local residents will take advantage of this field tour to learn more about wildfire management issues and this important project," concluded Dunkelberger. For more information, contact BLM's Anne Halford at 760-872-5022.

-BLM-

Bishop Field Office - 351 Pacu Lane, Suite 100 - Bishop, CA 93514