2020 Red Salmon Fire Report
The Red Salmon Fire started on July 26, 2020 as series of lightning ignitions deep in the backcountry in the western Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. The stubborn, often slow-moving fire burned for over five months throughout the Trinity Alps Wilderness and the surrounding Salmon River, Klamath River and Trinity River watersheds. Throughout the extended burn period, the fire burned under a wide variety of weather conditions, through diverse vegetation, through a patchwork of relatively recent fire footprints, and into long unburned forests at the headwaters of Red Cap Creek. Ecologically speaking, the mixed severity fire effects were highly beneficial and restored fire to over 140,000 acres in the western Klamath Mountains.
A beautiful sunrise from Red Cap Prairie, looking northwest across the western edge of the Red Salmon Fire area and the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area to the Siskiyou Mountains.
Merging with a patchwork of previous fire footprints, the Red Salmon Fire added to the already...