BLM to conduct pile burning in Calaveras County
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EL DORADO HILLS, Calif. – The Bureau of Land Management will be conducting a prescribed burn of roughly 20 piles of brush and tree limbs located on approximately 40 acres of public lands in the Lily Gap project area, near the town of West Point in Calaveras County. Burn operations may start as early as Tuesday, Feb. 12, depending on weather and air quality conditions.
The BLM is committed to keeping public landscapes healthy and productive. The communities of Barton, Glenco, Pioneer, Volcano, West Point and Wilseyville may see smoke.
This prescribed burn will reduce hazardous fuels, decrease the risk of wildfire, promote forest health, improve wildlife habitat, as well as support protection of the wildland/urban interface.
The Lily Gap project is a multi-year, phased approach started in 2011, on BLM-managed public lands. Treatments include pile burning, logging, chipping and mastication of hazard trees, removal of overgrown brush and dangerous fuel loads on more than 400 acres. A Calaveras County plant uses salvaged wood chips to make particleboard and timber is hauled to nearby mills. The project changes the make up of the forest, so in the event of a wildfire, flames are not expected to burn as high or hot. The Lily Gap project is considered a model for improving forest and landscape health.
Similar treatments in the Sierra Nevada foothills mixed conifer forest are being conducted by the U.S. Forest Service and Sierra Pacific Industries adjacent to the Lily Gap project area.
For more information, please call the Mother Lode Field Office at 916-941-3101.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land located primarily in 12 western states, including Alaska, on behalf of the American people. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. Our mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of America’s public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.