Calaveras Big Trees plans prescribed fire. Why it’s done, and how to avoid smoke

Wildfire season is giving way to prescribed-burning season in and near the Sierra Nevada.

One of them is scheduled to begin Sept. 30 in Calaveras Big Trees State Park. It will reduce brush and smaller trees on about 780 acres of giant sequoias. The end date was not available Friday.

The park staff will conduct the burn with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It will be in four zones around the 6,500-acre park and require road and trail closures at times.

The work will be postponed if too much smoke would blow toward populated areas. The crew also could be delayed by rain or diverted to a wildfire elsewhere.

Prescribed burning has gained wide support as a way to confront California’s over-dense forests. They got that way because of a century-plus of suppressing mild fires sparked by lightning and Indigenous people.

Yosemite National Park was a pioneer in the 1970s. It has its own famous sequoia groves, along with pine, fir and other trees.

The neighboring Stanislaus National Forest does prescribed burning along with selective logging. Sierra Pacific Industries has two nearby sawmills that supply lumber for home-building and other uses.

The need was reinforced by the Rim Fire of 2013. It spread across a quarter-million acres of private and public land in Tuolumne County.

Prescribed burning also is done on private and tribal land in the foothills. In Modesto, firefighters have torched low-lying brush to protect native oaks in Tuolumne River Regional Park.

All of the burns get detailed planning to keep the flames from homes and other property. But it’s not perfect. At Calaveras Big Trees in 2022, the trunks were scorched more than expected on two trees at least 500 years old. A visit the following year found that they survived.

Prescribed burns also help sequoias reproduce by bursting the cones surrounding the seeds. More details about the species and the entire park are at www.parks.ca.gov.

The upcoming park burns will require closure of the South Grove Trail, the Beaver Creek area, the Bradley Grove Trail, West Moran Road and the Walter W. Smith Memorial Parkway south of the Stanislaus River.

A news release warns of smoke at times in the areas of Arnold, Dorrington, Big Trees Village, White Pines, Blue Lake Springs and Love Creek. Residents and visitors can get forecasts 72 hours in advance via an app from the California Air Resources Board.

The release notes that prescribed burns emit far less smoke than the megafires of recent years. The emissions can reach the Central Valley.

The park staff will discuss the planned burn at a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28, in the Educational Resources Room. The public can attend virtually by registering in advance.

Calaveras Big Trees has camping, fishing, picnic areas and bicycling just off Highway 4. The quickest way from Modesto is on Highways 108 and 49.

This story was originally published September 25, 2026 at 10:37 AM with the headline "Calaveras Big Trees plans prescribed fire. Why it’s done, and how to avoid smoke."