By John Huff
The Highlands Center for Natural History and Prescott National Forest partnered to offer a four-session miniseries focused on fire ecology, protecting cultural sites and all the steps taken for a successful prescribed burn. The four Thursday dates in October were led by Ansgar Mitchell, Prescott National Forest Assistant Fire Management Officer (Fire Prevention). These morning talks explained how the Prescott National Forest, Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, Archaeologists, ADOT, and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality work together as they look to the future in how to be ready for wildfires. The future of fighting fires has changed with climate change and other factors.
The Prescott National Forest has become proactive in how our forests are protected regarding fire. One goal is removing the ability of fires to stretch across the crown of trees by timber harvesting, creating buffer zones, and using either pile burns or understory burns. Fire has a role in recycling nutrients, increasing soil stability, bettering the quality of wildlife habitat, improving native distribution and decreasing plant accumulation.
There are many different factors to consider in making a Prescribed Burn Plan. Before a burn ADOT, local people habitation, creating containment barriers, environmental analysis, training of forest personnel, and notification to BLM and any other National Forests in the area of the burn are some of the goals. This ‘Prescription’ includes the weather: temperature (less than 95 degree), humidity (more than 15%), soil conditions (dry vs. wet), and wind (less than 25 mph). Prescribed burns, whether pile or understory, are usually best in fall or spring or before the monsoon season. Then wrapping up the burn by monitoring to ensure it is safe to leave the area alone.
The final Thursday session ended with a small pile burn that could have been used as a test of whether to proceed with a much larger burn. Because this has become an annual event at Highlands Center for Natural History those that attended this year would most probably encourage you to put next year on your calendar.