Lassen National Forest Fall Prescribed Burning Program
SUSANVILLE, Calif., October 25, 2021 — The Lassen National Forest (LNF) is preparing to
implement the fall prescribed fire program. Prescribed burning will begin when weather conditions allow
for safe and effective burning conditions, tentatively scheduled for October 25, and could continue
through December.
The objectives of our Prescribed Burn Program are to:
• Reduce natural, or management activity created hazardous fuels that include dead and fallen
trees, dead branches, and brush;
• Reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires, such as the recent fires across the west;
• Restore fire-resilient forests by reintroducing fire to ecosystems, improving ecological services
such as understory productivity and vigor and increased and renewed forage for wildlife, and
releasing nutrients from consumed fuels into the soil.
Prescribed fires are also used to help create Defensible Fuel Profile Zones (DFPZ); areas where a
combination of thinning and prescribed fire treatments are used to remove highly flammable vegetation.
The DFPZs are designed to improve firefighter safety and suppression efforts, increase protection of
communities adjacent to national forest lands during a wildfire, and work toward returning the landscape
to one that more closely mimics the national fire regime.
Three precautions will be taken to minimize the amount of smoke in the air. First, burning will only take
place on permissive burn days. Second, the treatment areas have been mechanically thinned, resulting in
reduced smoke emissions. Finally, the LNF coordinates with other public agencies and industrial
landowners in the Northeastern Plateau on days planned to burn, which limits the amount of smoke in the
air at any one time.
“The Lassen National Forest is committed to a forest management practice that will incorporate an
aggressive fuels management program forest-wide, treating several thousand acres annually. These
treatments will benefit public lands in many ways, including habitat restoration, maintaining healthy and
sustainable forests, and aligning with suppression strategies set by fire managers in the event of a
wildfire, through the combined use of mechanical treatments and prescribed fire,” said Deb Bumpus,
Lassen National Forest Supervisor.
Eagle Lake Ranger District
The Eagle Lake Ranger District is preparing to implement the fall prescribed fire program. Prescribed burning will
begin when weather conditions allow for safe and efficient burning conditions, which can be as early as October
and could continue through February of 2022.
Approximately 1,101 acres of understory burning could occur in the following locations: Bailey DFPZ on the
northwest side of Campbell Mountain (311 acres); Bidwell DFPZ (100 acres) north of Butte Creek Campground;
Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest (225 acres); Summit DFPZ on the east side of Logan Mountain (265 acres);
and Houseman and Signal DFPZs around Dow Butte (200 acres). Dow Butte is located approximately 6 miles
north of the community of Spalding. Depending on weather conditions during the prescribed burning, smoke could
be visible from Susanville, the Eagle Lake Basin, Westwood, Spalding, Chester, and while traveling on Highways
44 and 139, and County Roads A1 and A21. In addition to these treatments, approximately 350 acres of landing
piles and approximately 400 acres of hand piles will be burned throughout the district, once significant rain or
snowfall has occurred. The largest hand pile burning project is located in the Diamond Mountain WUI Project and
smoke may be visible from Susanville during project implementation.
For more information please contact District Fire Management Officer Dan Varney at 530-250-7247.
Hat Creek Ranger District
Hat Creek Ranger District will be starting the annual pile burning for the season and is planned on 500 to 700
acres of piles in the Ashpan Snow Mobile Park Area, 450 acres of hand piles within the Plum Project on the Hat
Creek Rim, and 300 acres of hand piles in the Signal Butte area.
Hat Creek will start burning units in the Ashpan Area the week of October 25, 2021. Burning will continue as
weather permits. For more information please contact District Fire Management Officer Shannon Prather at 530-
336-5521.
Almanor Ranger District
The Almanor Ranger District plans to resume prescribed burning in the spring of 2022.
Lassen National Forest Fall Prescribed Burning Program
