Temescal Valley Near Corona : Forest Service Plans Controlled Burn Today in Chaparral Area

CORONA —  U. S. Forest Service plans to set fire today to part of a 1,700-acre area of chaparral above the Temescal Valley south of Corona to reduce the risk of brush fires.

The prescribed burn, which could be postponed if it rains, is part of the Trabuco Ranger District’s program “to improve wildlife habitat (and) to create a mosaic of different age class vegetation,” said Bill Pidanick, public affairs officer for the Trabuco Ranger District of the Cleveland National Forest.

By interspersing areas of dense, older chaparral with burned areas that will support newer growth, he said, the Forest Service hopes to slow the spread of future wildfires and control them more easily.

In their current 1,700-acre project area--in Brown, Eagle and Bedford canyons--officials hope to blacken 600 to 1,000 acres with a series of burns that began last week, Pidanick said.

A fire set last Thursday consumed about 150 acres of chaparral, he said.

“The (Trabuco Ranger) District plans to burn approximately 1,500 acres per year, beginning in the areas with the greatest fuel loading and risk,” acting District Ranger Ernest Martinsen said.

The burns will continue through the spring, but Forest Service officials urge area residents to continue reporting their sightings of smoke in the Santa Ana Mountains to the ranger district headquarters at (714) 736-1811.