Update: Prescribed Burn Has Begun – October 19, 2023

The planned treatment will cover approximately 39 acres in the heart of the North Grove area of the state park. Visitors should expect significant closures during the prescribed burning, including North Grove Trail, Three Senses Trail, and Grove Overlook Trail. Closures will remain in effect until conditions favor reopening. Smoke will remain in the area for some time after active firing has stopped. California State Parks has prepared the unit for treatment.

The protection and stewardship of the giant sequoia groves has been a department priority since the park’s creation in 1931. Prescribed burning is part of State Park’s program for vegetation management to increase the resilience of the forest and promote new giant sequoia growth. Forest management and prescribed fire help restore and maintain a complex forest community, reduce hazardous fuel loads, improve wildlife habitat, restore nutrients to the soil, protect park infrastructure, and reduce the chance of a catastrophic wildfire.

This project is funded by the State of California through the Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Program (WFRP). WFRP expands on critical land management that California State Parks has been carrying out for decades and supports increasing the pace and scale of fuels treatments so that California’s State Park System can become an example of resilient ecosystems maintained through active stewardship.

Learn more about prescribed fire at www.parks.ca.gov/bigtreesprescribedfire

#bigtrees #castateparks #prescribedfire