FIRE! Don’t Worry It’s Under Control

A prescribed burn presents an eerie but somehow enthralling scene in Yosemite Valley. Photo by Edie Howe-Byrne.

If you’re in Yosemite or headed up that way you may notice some smoke and haze don’t worry though, it’s under control. The National Park Service has a prescribed burn slated to start in the morning in the Foresta Big Meadow if weather conditions and air quality allow

This will be the first burn project in the meadow since the A-Rock wildfire of 1990. Prior to European settlement, lightning and Native Americans provided ignition sources on a regular basis resulting in a short interval fire regime of low to moderate intensity fires. More frequent fires maintains surface fuels to low levels and reduces small trees and other vegetation in the understory of larger trees that could form fuel ladders to the crowns of larger trees. Under these conditions, ecosystems were better able to withstand high intensity, forest stand replacement fires, as the A-Rock wildfire. In addition to reducing the risk of catastrophic fire, frequent low intensity prescribed burning improves wildlife habitat by promoting the sprouting of forage vegetation.

For more information on fire in Yosemite please visit www.nps.gov/yose/fire