Bear Mountain Prescribed Burn To Begin Again

Sonora, CA – The second phase of the Bear Mountain Underburn in the Groveland Ranger District on the Stanislaus National Forest is set to begin towards the end of this month.

Already 151 acres were set ablaze over several nights in August for the burn now the plan is to ignite another 680 acres east of Groveland along Forest Road 1S03, in the vicinity of Ackerson and Bear Mountain. Below is a map of the burn area.

Forest spokesperson Diana Fredlund outlines the parameters of the burn, detailing, “It’s going to run between four and six actual days. Not necessarily consecutive days. Crews will burn about 100 acres per burn session and starting around 3 p.m. and going into the evening hours each day.”

Smoke may be visible from Highway 120 and Evergreen Road, with some down-canyon drift smoke visible in the evening and early morning, mainly in the South Fork of the Tuolumne River drainage. Fredlund also notes, “Possibly up in the Twain Harte area folks could see smoke or a glow of fire similar to what we had a couple of weeks ago.”

The night burning is being done to take advantage of cooler temperatures and higher relative humidity.