Officials take advantage of weather to remove vegetation

DAMON ARTHUR, Record Searchlight

Spring is just around the corner. That means flowers blooming, trees blossoming, sun shining and prescribed burning near Whiskeytown Lake.

National Park Service officials are taking advantage of the pleasant weather this week to do what they call prescribed burns on the east side of the lake.

“With the transition to more spring-like weather, suitable prescribed fire conditions are expected to develop in the coming weeks into late May or early June that will allow for the safe and effective use of underburning activities,” Park Service officials said in a news release.

Prescribed burns are typically used to thin out areas of forest that have grown too dense with brush and small trees. The controlled burns, which are intentionally set, remove the types of vegetation that allow fire to move from the ground and into the tops of large trees, creating hazardous firefighting conditions.

During spring and fall, plants have enough moisture to prevent fires from becoming too intense, but weather conditions allow for low-intensity burning, Park Service officia