Wawona Area Pile Burning

Hand pile burning in the Wawona area may resume beginning Monday May 4, 2009 if weather and air quality conditions
are favorable. Burning will begin after the low weather pressure passes through Yosemite over the weekend; the expected
precipitation is ¾ of an inch of rain.

Two area projects are scheduled for this continuing project:

Bill’s Hill/Seventh Day Adventist Camp area – five acres are piled and prepared to burn.

Wawona Road – Mosquito Creek to the Wawona Campground on the downhill side of the road. Approximately 2.5 miles
of piles remain to be burned, and is a continuation of the project begun last fall.

Pile burning is an effective method of removing accumulated burnable vegetation from the forest floor. When combined
with other treatments, mechanical thinning or prescribed fire, piles are a relatively fast and an inexpensive method to
restore fire dependent forest systems. In addition pile burning can reduce the threats or effects of catastrophic wildfire to
Wildland Urban Interface; and in both of these projects, to the community of Wawona. They create “firebreaks”, that fire
managers can utilize for future prescribe fire projects or to defend against unwanted suppression fires. The predicted
weather conditions for this weekend will make these projects easier to manage with minimal staffing and which further
reduces costs.

Conditions for burning will be ideal to minimize smoke impacts. Although, people with smoke sensitive reparatory
conditions are advised to take precautions to minimize smoke impacts and use caution when exerting themselves in smoky
areas.

For further information contact:
Prescribe Fire Office: (209) 375-9574
Fire Information and Education: (209) 372-0480

Yosemite Fire Management Website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/fire