Forest Service temporarily closes all national forests in California

Due to “unprecedented and historic” fire conditions throughout the state, the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region temporary closed of an additional 10 national forests, meaning all 18 of California’s national forests are now closed.

The closure of the additional 10 forests went into effect at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9. 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.

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

The USDA had closed eight national forests on Monday evening, Sept. 7. Explosive growth of fires throughout California during the day and late evening of Sept. 8 led to this updated decision.

“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.

For more information, go to www.fs.usda.gov/R5.