Prescribed

Prescribed fire 

Prescribed fire is a planned fire used to meet management objectives.

Did you know fire can be good for people and the land? After many years of fire exclusion, an ecosystem that needs periodic fire becomes unhealthy. Trees are stressed by overcrowding, fire-dependent species disappear, and flammable fuels build up and become hazardous. A prescribed fire is a fire ignited intentionally that burns under specified conditions identified in a burn plan that allow the fire to be confined to a predetermined area and produce the fire behavior required to meet planned forest restoration objectives. The right fire at the right place at the right time:

• Reduces hazardous fuels, protecting human communities from extreme fires
• Minimizes the spread of pest insects and disease
• Removes unwanted species that threaten species native to an ecosystem
• Provides forage for game
• Improves habitat for threatened and endangered species
• Recycles nutrients back to the soil

The Tahoe National Forest manages prescribed fires to benefit natural resources, protect communities and reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires in the future. 

More prescribed fires mean fewer extreme wildfires.

Specialists write burn plans for prescribed fires. Burn plans identify – or prescribe – the best conditions under which trees and other plants will burn to get the best results safely. Burn plans consider temperature, humidity, wind, moisture of the vegetation and conditions for the dispersal of smoke. Prescribed fire specialists compare conditions on the ground to those outlined in burn plans before deciding whether to burn on a given day.

Each year, the Tahoe National Forest implements prescribed fire, both under burning and pile burning, on thousands of acres in an effort to protect communities, improve wildlife habitat and forest and watershed health, while also reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfires.