Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area Fuel Reduction Project

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife will implement a fuel reduction project on the Horseshoe Ranch Wildlife Area to enhance fire resiliency and ecosystem health through a range of active management techniques. These include prescriptive and cultural burns, hand treatments, mastication, chipping, pile burning, and prescriptive grazing, all designed to reduce hazardous vegetation and minimize wildfire risk. The project also involves the creation and maintenance of control lines to safely contain prescribed fires, with existing roadways being upgraded where necessary to serve as fire breaks or evacuation routes during treatment operations. Follow-up maintenance activities will continue to support long-term fuel reduction goals through repeated applications of prescribed fire, manual vegetation management, and herbivory by grazers. The work is scheduled to occur in the Northern Region of California, specifically around the 96044 zip code area, and is overseen by Environmental Scientist Teresa Spade, who serves as the primary point of contact for inquiries. This initiative reflects a strategic, ongoing effort to promote landscape resilience through ecologically informed fire and vegetation management practices.