Mammoth Ranger District fire crews will conduct up to 270 acres on the Dry Creek Prescribed Fire
Weather and air quality conditions permitting, Mammoth Ranger District fire crews will conduct up to 270 acres on the Dry Creek Prescribed Fire starting Monday, November 15 and continuing through for 2-3 days while and if conditions remain favorable. This prescribed fire is located along Dry Creek Cutoff Road between Mammoth Scenic Loop and Upper Deadman Road. It can be treated in smaller units if needed.
This project is in the Jeffrey pine/lodgepole forest with some sagebrush, and light slash from selective thinning work. The purpose of the prescribed fire is to reduce hazard fuels for community protection and to help restore a more natural fire regime.
This area has seen previous thinning, so prescribed fires are the next step in restoring the natural fire cycle in the Jeffrey pine forest, which historically had a frequent fire cycle (about every 5-15 years). This will encourage biodiversity and well as help make the forest more resistant to fires of unnatural size and intensity. Jeffrey pines have a fire-resistant bark that helps them survive frequent fires and they thrive in open, sunny forests created by fires.
Visitors and residents are advised to avoid Roads 2S29, 2S25, and 2S26, and associated spurs near the intersections of those roads during the project so that firefighters may safely focus on this work.
Smoke will be visible from Mammoth Mountain, the Town of Mammoth Lakes, Mammoth Scenic Loop, and Hwy. 395.
