1,500 Acres To Be Burned Near Beardsley Lake

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Tuolumne County, CA — A significant prescribed burn is scheduled to get underway in the Dry Meadows Area, north of Beardsley Lake, next week.

1,500 acres will be burned in the Strawberry Prescribed Burn area starting on June 13. Prep work within the Summit Ranger District is already underway. The burning is part of the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy.

The Forest Service reports, “The goals for the project are to reduce the risk of high-intensity wildfire and strengthen past fuel reduction efforts by completing second entry prescribed burns in all units across the project.”

The Forest Service adds that the project area is located between Beardsley Lake and the Tuolumne State Game Refuge with the majority of the units located in close proximity to Forest Road 5N02. The dominant vegetation type within the project is mixed conifer.

Concluding, “With the prescribed burn, fire professionals will reduce the buildup of flammable forest fuels, both ground fuels and ladder fuels; reduce the threat of uncontrolled, large and damaging fires; treat activity generated fuels; improve protection for life, property, and resources. Prescribed burning is an effective, cost-efficient method of reducing flammable forest fuels, improving firefighting capabilities, and reducing the impacts of large, uncontrolled damaging wildland fires.”

Burning will be contingent on weather and conditions.