These California forest lands are going to be closed this summer due to wildfire risks
25 June 2022
Published by: https://www.sacbee.com
USA – Citing wildfire risks, California’s largest private land owner is again closing all of its timberlands to the public starting July 1.
Anderson-based Sierra Pacific Industries announced the closure Friday, saying its nearly 1.9 million acres in California will likely remain closed into the fall.
“Public roads that are on SPI forestlands will remain open,” the company said on its website. “But no walk-in access will be allowed.”
Sierra Pacific typically leaves its lands open for recreation such as camping, hunting, bike riding and equestrian use, but over the past few years it has closed its lands in the summers to try to prevent wildfires.
The past two years, the U.S. Forest Service also has closed various California forests for weeks at a time, due to firefighters being stretched thin fighting millions of acres of fires burning around the state. Last year’s forest closures began in August.
The Forest Service has not announced any closures in California so far this summer.
Ryan Sabalow covers environment, enterprise and investigative stories for McClatchy’s California newspapers. Before joining The Sacramento Bee in 2015, he was a reporter at the Auburn Journal, the Redding Record Searchlight and the Indianapolis Star.
