SUBMITTED NEWS RELEASE
U.S. Forest Service fuels management crews are continuing prescribed fire operations in Slaughterhouse Canyon on Lake Tahoe’s East Shore today, April 19, 2010, due to continued favorable weather conditions. Smoke from the area was highly visible lifting up and out of the Lake Tahoe Basin yesterday, as crews were able to make headway on eliminating hazardous forest fuels on 245 acres.
“We understand that smoke from prescribed fire can be inconvenient and unpleasant,” said Forest Service public affairs officer Cheva Heck. “We ask for the community’s understanding while we take advantage of the right
conditions to make progress toward reducing the risk of a major wildfire this summer.”
The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is experiencing problems with its phone system, and the local fire information line (option 6, 530-543-2600) cannot be updated until the problem is fixed, hopefully later today. Check
the website at http://fs.usda.gov/ltbmu for up-to-date information until then. To be added to notification lists for prescribed fire plans, please email [email protected] and indicate your neighborhood.
“We appreciate the help our local media have given us in notifying area residents and visitors about our prescribed fire plans,” said Heck. “Fire is a fact of life in the Lake Tahoe Basin, but through fuels reduction projects like this and eventually through understory burns that restore forest health, we strive to reduce the impact it has on our neighborhoods, the Lake and our forest lands.”
To learn more about the efforts to reduce catastrophic wildfire risks in the Tahoe Basin, Â read the Lake Tahoe Basin Multi-Jurisdictional Fuel Reduction Plan.
To view maps that described current prescribed fire project locations, visit the Current Prescribed Fire Activity 2010 web page.
Take a few moments to visit an excellent web site and learn about Prescribed Fire vs. Wildfire at: http://www.smokeybear.com/good-bad.asp
