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Prescribed Burn- Merced Grove PW4 and PW6
Yosemite National Park » Prescribed Burn- Merced Grove PW4 and PW6 » Document List
The National Park Service is proposing to initiate a prescribed burn as early as fall 2021 in and around the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias in partnership with the USFS Stanislaus National Forest. The proposed burn would cover an area of approximately 869 acres of the park within the PW4 and PW6 units. This project will build on planned fuels reduction work in the area with the goal of reducing fuels, reducing the probability of future high intensity fire, increasing the resiliency of wildlife habitat, and protecting the Merced Grove of Giant Sequoias.
The burn units will utilize existing dozer lines, handlines, and roadways in order to burn safely across park & forest boundaries without using equipment that will disturb the ground with new firelines. The existing lines will be prepped using hand tools and chainsaws to ensure fire stays within the proposed units. Within the park, PW-4 will be held to the north by the Big Oak Flat Road and to the east by Moss Canyon Road/Forest Route 2S20. PW-6 will be held to the north and east by Forest Route 1S12 and to the west by Moss Canyon Road/Forest Route 2S20. If additional control lines are deemed necessary to facilitate safe burning and to protect resources, they will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary team and approved by the deciding official prior to implementation. The interdisciplinary team is made up of NPS fire staff as well as cultural and natural resources staff (including archaeologists, historians, and cultural anthropologists/tribal liaisons).
The burn will be conducted along holding lines by hand ignition using drip torches or with aerial ignitions (using either Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or helicopter with Plastic Sphere Dispensers). Unit PW4 (YNP) and units 2 & 3 (STF) will be burned together and PW6 (YNP) and unit 4 (STF) will be burned together, over multiple burn periods as conditions allow. Firing patterns, weather, and fuel conditions are planned and monitored to create mosaic burn patterns, leaving areas of burned and unburned fuels. The burn will take place when all environmental parameters outlined in the prescription can be met, which can be any time of the year.
Much of this area is within the footprint of the 2018 Ferguson Fire (with the exception of PW6 on YNP). The desired forest condition is a landscape that is ecologically healthy and resilient to high intensity fire and includes mature forest connectivity between Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.
The burn units will utilize existing dozer lines, handlines, and roadways in order to burn safely across park & forest boundaries without using equipment that will disturb the ground with new firelines. The existing lines will be prepped using hand tools and chainsaws to ensure fire stays within the proposed units. Within the park, PW-4 will be held to the north by the Big Oak Flat Road and to the east by Moss Canyon Road/Forest Route 2S20. PW-6 will be held to the north and east by Forest Route 1S12 and to the west by Moss Canyon Road/Forest Route 2S20. If additional control lines are deemed necessary to facilitate safe burning and to protect resources, they will be reviewed by an interdisciplinary team and approved by the deciding official prior to implementation. The interdisciplinary team is made up of NPS fire staff as well as cultural and natural resources staff (including archaeologists, historians, and cultural anthropologists/tribal liaisons).
The burn will be conducted along holding lines by hand ignition using drip torches or with aerial ignitions (using either Unmanned Aerial Vehicles or helicopter with Plastic Sphere Dispensers). Unit PW4 (YNP) and units 2 & 3 (STF) will be burned together and PW6 (YNP) and unit 4 (STF) will be burned together, over multiple burn periods as conditions allow. Firing patterns, weather, and fuel conditions are planned and monitored to create mosaic burn patterns, leaving areas of burned and unburned fuels. The burn will take place when all environmental parameters outlined in the prescription can be met, which can be any time of the year.
Much of this area is within the footprint of the 2018 Ferguson Fire (with the exception of PW6 on YNP). The desired forest condition is a landscape that is ecologically healthy and resilient to high intensity fire and includes mature forest connectivity between Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.