The Bureau of Land Management and the US Wildland Fire Service are opening prescribed burning season today in areas around Tuolumne, Calaveras, and Mariposa counties.
Prescribed burning projects will continue throughout the fall and winter. The BLM notes that the treatments are carefully planned to reduce hazardous fuels and restore native ecosystems. Much of the work will be pile burning.
The BLM adds that reducing built-up fuels and residual materials from previous thinning operations decreases the load of dead trees, branches, and underbrush, and in turn reduces wildfire risk.
Smoke may be visible at times around BLM lands. Burning will only take place when weather, fuel conditions, and air quality are within specific parameters.
