Fire threat, virus lead to bans on most park campfires.
Pandemic, drought combine to make for ‘a really trying year’
Facing the doublebarreled threat of wildfire danger and the coronavirus pandemic, public land managers overseeing some of California’s most popular parks are moving to ban campfires outside of designated fire rings — in some cases, through the end of the summer.
The National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and California State Parks, which oversee more than 100 wilderness areas in the state, are working separately but on parallel courses to cut back on campfires that may pose a threat to the
state’s dry natural landscape. The agencies have issued new restrictions at various parks and outdoor areas over the past month, some of which will extend to the end of summer and possibly into fall.
“Everybody needs to be really cautious. It’s a really trying year,” said Amy Head, a Cal Fire battalion chief.
A similar campfire ban was ordered two years ago by public land managers in the state.
The most widereaching restriction to take effect is on national forest lands across the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and ShastaSiskiyou ranges, where all campfires are banned in wilderness and outside of designated fire rings at developed campgrounds. The ban will extend through the summer and may eventually be extended to all campfires — even ones in designated fire pits — according to Forest Service regional headquarters.
“We understand these fire restrictions change the visitor experience in the short term,” said Randy Moore, regional forester for the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest
“There and acres are of mass dead acres trees, dry fuel just sitting there, waiting.”
Amy Head, Cal Fire battalion chief
Service. “(We) appreciate the public’s understanding of the need to protect communities and firefighters during the upcoming fire season and this unprecedented pandemic.”
At national parks, bans on campfires outside of fire rings have been ordered this summer at Yosemite and SequoiaKings Canyon, each park reported. At Point Reyes National Seashore, campfires are banned yearround. For cooking, campers instead use small, portable, gaspowered stoves.
At California state parks, campfires are usually allowed in fire rings at each campsite. However, during extreme fire conditions, such as Red Flag Warnings, when the chance of fire danger is most extreme, park rangers can ban all campfires at their respective parks.
Individual state parks tend to operate independently of each other with a degree of autonomy. This week, for instance, campfires were still allowed in campsite fire rings at D.L. Bliss State Park at Emerald Bay near South Lake Tahoe, said Carol Korn at the park. For uptodate information on campfire allowances, visitors should contact parks individually.
“Our status is clear now” — meaning campfires are permitted in designated fire rings — “but that can change,” Korn said.
The National Weather Service is forecasting hot, dry weather this week in the far north and across the Sierra. That has many campers and firefighters alike walking on the dry pine needles as if they were eggshells.
According to numbers released Monday, Cal Fire has engaged with 3,932 fires this year since Jan. 1 — ahead of the fiveyear average of 2,821 fires for the same date and 2,300 fires at this time a year ago, Head said.
“Our No. 1 tactic is to hit the fires hard and heavy, right out the gate, and try to keep them 10 acres or less,” Head said. Cal Fire statistics bear that out: a total of 40,623 acres has burned so far this year, far less than the fiveyear average of 70,719 acres.
But that could change quickly, Head said.
On the flank of central Sierra, an estimated 147 million dead trees — mostly pines killed from drought and invasive beetles from 2010 to 2018 — present a cataclysmic fire risk, according to aerial surveys and a map analysis by Cal Fire nd the U.S. Forest Service.
Two years ago, with similar dry, hot conditions entering midJuly, wildfires devoured 1.8 million acres in California, the worst fire season on record in the state. Last year, however, a wet spring and a late meltoff of snow in the high country delayed the fire season, and 259,823 acres burned, according to Cal Fire and the Interagency Fire Center.
After a dry February, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for wildfire risk for the remainder of this year.
The region with the highest threat from dead pines is on the west flank of the central Sierra Nevada, especially at elevations from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, according to aerial mapping by Cal Fire.
“Tree mortality is a big concern for us,” said Head. “All those dead trees aren’t just going to go away. There are mass acres and acres of dead trees, dry fuel just sitting there, waiting.”