NOTE: Due to wind conditions, this burn is being rescheduled.
DIVISION OF STATE LANDS NEWS RELEASE
NORTH LAKE TAHOE – The Nevada Division of Forestry will be conducting prescribed burns at Tunnel Creek in the Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park backcountry beginning May 5, 2011.
The Tunnel Creek road, from State Route 28 to Tunnel Creek Station, may be closed in order to conduct the burns. Signs will be posted throughout the area when burns are being conducted. Nearly 100 acres will be treated in 15 separate phases.
The burns are part of ongoing fuels treatment and forest restoration efforts in the Lake Tahoe area.
“The goal of the project is to create a healthier forest and to make the area more resistant to catastrophic wildfire,” said Robert Gregg, coordinator for the Nevada Tahoe Resource Team, a multiagency team responsible for implementing the environmental improvement program in Nevada.
The Tunnel Creek burns are being conducted by the Nevada Division of Forestry in cooperation with the Division of State Parks, Division of State Lands and the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District.
“We’ll be monitoring weather patterns for smoke management prior to and during burns,” Gregg said. “The timing of the burns depends on optimum weather conditions, but steps will be made to minimize impacts to park visitors.”