Smoke In The Forest

Stanislaus National Forest, CA — It will be a scary sight especially after the Rim Fire, but these plumes will not be from a wildfire instead the flames will be sparked intentionally. Smoke will soon be visible to motorists driving on Highway 4 in the Stanislaus National Forest. Forest Service officials report they will soon be igniting two prescribed burns in the Calaveras Ranger District.

The first one will be the Moore/Bellfour Understory Burn. Crews will be burning in the north fork of the Mokelumne River and Bellfour Canyon, six miles west of Bear Valley. The burn is schedule to start November 4th and take a little over a week to complete. A total of 491 acres will be burned. Smoke may be seen from Highway 4 east of Bear Valley.

The second prescribe burn is the Calaveras Machine and Hand pile burn. This project is spread across the Calaveras Ranger District in Alpine, Tuolumne and Calaveras Counties. Various piles making up 400 acres in the Hathaway Pines, Arnold, Dorrington, Bear Valley and Lake Alpine areas will be set on fire. Crews will begin burning piles this fall and should wrap up the job by late spring. Forest Service officials say this will also produce smoke along the Highway 4 corridor.