The following is a press release issued by the University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center:
The University of California Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) is working in partnership with CAL FIRE to implement a 10-year Vegetation Management Plan (VMP) of annual prescribed burns for fuel reduction, public safety, ecosystem health, research, and education.
To reduce wildfire fuel, CAL FIRE is planning to use “good fire” to burn two separate units at HREC the week of October 28th, pending favorable weather conditions that allow for a high level of smoke lift and winds that push the smoke into the Mayacamas Mountains.
The two units are each about 60 acres and are subdivided into smaller sections with internal control lines, allowing for a staged burn process. One of the units is primarily grassland and supports a long-term research project looking at the effects on rangeland of grazing with both sheep and cattle in the presence and absence of prescribed fire. The second unit is a mixture of oak savannah and grassland, the burning of which will reduce fire fuels around our headquarters and create a pyro-diverse landscape for various research projects on wildlife ecology and oak woodland management.
Staff at HREC and our UC Cooperative Extension Advisors have been communicating with the winegrowers in our region to time these burns after the vast majority, if not all, grapes in our area are harvested. We are taking all possible steps to greatly reduce any potential for inducing smoke taint in the grapes while still conducting burn at a time of year that is viable.
We have been contacting local growers and related organizations to ensure their crops are harvested before CAL FIRE burns. In addition, we will be working with CAL FIRE to review their spot weather forecast, which will give us the information needed to guide us in deciding whether to burn on the planned days. The complexity of coordinating enough CAL FIRE crews and equipment to keep the fire within the extensive network of control lines creates a challenge in changing plans at the last minute so we will be looking at the forecasts three days and one day prior to the burns. We may move the burn date if weather conditions are not within the prescription.
In addition, HREC staff will be making calls to neighbors to let them know about the planned burns and have invited both winegrowers and the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians to attend the burn and learn more about the process and planning involved.
We greatly appreciate and value both our winegrowing community and CAL FIRE for the work they do to create a vibrant local economy and ensure that we manage our landscape through the use of prescribed fire to reduce the risk of future catastrophic wildfires and the negative impacts they create.
