News Release

For Release: April 15, 2008     
Contact: David Christy (916) 985-4474            
CA-CC-08-53

Bureau of Land Management Plans Fuels Reduction in El Dorado County

The Bureau of Land Management plans to start creating fire fuel breaks at Cameron Park and Rescue starting in early May.

"We will be constructing fuel breaks along our Pine Hill Preserve in El Dorado County," said Brian Mulhollen, fuels management specialist in BLM’s Folsom Field Office.

The areas that will be treated are directly behind residences along the western portions of Chasen Drive and Jackie Lane in Cameron Park, and the Farview Lane area in Rescue.

Hand crews will cut and pull the dense, highly flammable vegetation into a chipper that will evenly disperse the chips along the ground. The fire breaks will be 100 feet wide and total about 1.5 miles long.

"The construction or maintenance of these vital fuel breaks will increase the ability of county, state and federal fire management to protect structures in the event of a wildfire. Future projects are in the planning stages for other fire-prone areas of the Pine Hill Preserve. This project is in partnership with the Cameron Park and El Dorado County fire safe councils," Mulhollen said.
 
BLM also will maintain a fuel break on Shoo fly Road, in the Kelsy area of El Dorado County, a 30-acre parcel that was originally treated in 2001. A mechanical masticator will grind and disperse vegetation. A hand crew will follow the mechanized equipment to do clean-up work. 

For more information, contact Mulhollen at (916) 985-4474.

  -BLM-