All National Forests in California now closed temporarily

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Due to dangerous fire conditions, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Randy Moore has just announced that ALL National Forests in California will close Wednesday, September 9, 2020, at 5:00 p.m. until further notice. This order includes the California and Nevada sides of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. On Monday, eight National Forests were closed and now an additional ten from the state have been added to the list.

These additional forests include the Eldorado National Forest, Klamath National Forest, Lassen National Forest, Mendocino National Forest, Modoc National Forest, Six Rivers National Forest, Plumas National Forest, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Tahoe National Forest, and Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit. The Pacific Crest Trail is now closed along with Desolation Wilderness, both of which were able to stay open prior to today's announcement.

This decision will be re-evaluated daily as conditions change.

“The number of large fires and extreme fire behavior we are seeing across the State is historic," said Regional Forester Randy Moore. "These temporary closures are necessary to protect the public and our firefighters, and we will keep them in place until conditions improve and we are confident that National Forest visitors can recreate safely. I ask all Californians and visitors to take these closures and evacuations seriously for their own safety and to allow our firefighters to focus on the mission of safely suppressing these fires ."

It is critical that all Californians and national forest visitors follow these
important closures and restrictions for their own safety and the safety of firefighters.

The Fork Fire burning west of Lake Tahoe is now at 2,500 acres, 0 percent containment. Acreage is an estimate only; perimeter mapping is in progress. Smoke from this fire is currently drifting into Emerald Bay.