Controlled Burning

Fire shaped these forests for thousands of years. Native Americans regularly set low-intensity ground fires, and the century of fire exclusion that followed left the woods crowded with brush and young fir. The Land Group has been working to bring good fire back. In 1980, with help from the state fire agency, we burned two acres of fir along the upper road. In 1982 we hosted the first prescribed burn in Humboldt County under the state’s vegetation management program, and in 2008 we burned again with Cal Fire. Each burn doubled as a training day for firefighters, volunteer fire departments and neighbors. Today we’re working with the Southern Humboldt Prescribed Burn Association on a burn plan for the whole property.

  • A firefighter in a helmet lights a line of fire along the forest floor with a drip torch.
  • A man in yellow fire gear holds up a map while firefighters seated on a log listen.
  • Low flames creep through leaf litter beneath tall trees.