BLM To Burn 30 Piles Of Brush/Trees In Calaveras County
West Point, CA – Roughly 30 piles of downed hazard trees, branches and understory brush will be set ablaze in Calaveras County by the Land Management (BLM) in the coming weeks and lasting into spring.
The Mother Lode Field Office relayed that the piles are located on about 40 acres of public lands in the Lily Gap project area, near the town of West Point. Burn operations will start in the coming weeks and continue through spring. The burning will be subject to weather, air quality conditions and resource availability. BLM wants to alert the public that smoke may be visible in Barton, Glenco, Pioneer, Volcano, West Point, and Wilseyville areas. The goal is to reduce hazardous fuels, which decrease the risk of wildland fire. The burning also promotes forest health, improves wildlife habitat and supports the protection of the wildland/urban interface.
The Lily Gap project began in 2011. It uses a multi-year, phased approach for fuels reduction on more than 400 acres of BLM-managed public lands. The treatments used include pile burning, logging, chipping, and mastication of strategically thinned hazard trees, removal of overgrown brush and dangerous ladder fuels, which can feed flames to the treetops, according to BLM officials.
