Rare access to view Rim Fire aftermath

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK (KFSN) -- It's been 11 months since one of the biggest fires in state history ripped through the Stanislaus National Forest and parts of Yosemite National Park. The impact is still being felt nearly a year later.

Critical decisions are being made about how to recover from the third largest wildfire in California's history. The massive Rim Fire burned more than 257,000 acres in the Stanislaus National Forest, Yosemite National Park, and private land.

Millions of barren, black trees cover the hillsides of the Stanislaus National Forest -- a stark reminder of the Rim Fire that started August 17th.

John Buckley, the executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center says the flames spread at an unprecedented pace.

"To burn 90,000 acres in two days is unheard of in conifer forests," said Buckley. "It just exploded and consumed almost everything."

By the time firefighters contained the blaze two months later, it had charred 400 square miles, an area nearly four times the size of Fresno. It destroyed 11 homes, shut down roads, and hurt surrounding businesses. Most of the damage occurred on U.S. Forest Service property, where countless trees, plants, and animals died.

Groveland District Ranger Jim Junette said, "There's a piece of fire in the center that's just 30 or 40 thousand acres is just black landscape, there's nothing there."

That area is still closed to the public, but we were given access to show the devastation. This is a core area of the fire. It burned at a high intensity, and you can see miles and miles of black, dead trees.

"The stream down below here has been roasted on both banks, trees have fallen over in all directions," said Junette. "A lot of the vegetation is completely gone."

A dry winter helped avoid the landslides many feared, and the spring brought some signs of new life. But Groveland District Ranger Jim Junette says much more must be done to protect visitors, improve wildlife habitat, minimize sediment in the water, and prevent another massive fire.

"I've got my folks looking at it as a clean palate," said Junette. "We get to start with landscape almost fresh and do what needs to be done out there."

Right now crews are cutting down about 99,000 dead trees that pose a danger near roads and recreation facilities, and selling them for lumber.

Officials are also gathering input on a controversial plan to start salvage logging many more dead trees throughout the burn area.

Buckley is part of a collaborative group that supports selling those trees before they rot or become fuel for another fire. He also believes some re-planting is critical.

"If we don't replant there may not be a forest again there not only in our lifetime, in our grandkids lifetime there may not be a forest there," said Buckley.

It's a different story though inside Yosemite National Park, where the Rim Fire burned about 77,000 acres on the northwest side.

Yosemite Chief of Fire and Aviation Kelly Martin said, "A lot of the areas where alongside the road and those trees have a tendency to fall, we will remove those trees because of the hazards along the road, but we don't do any salvage logging in the national park."

Kelly Martin says the fire created conditions that can actually help some wildlife thrive, so the park will let nature run its course.