ARIZONA — Tonto National Forest continues their collaboration for success within the Dude Fire Restoration project area with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. As Phase 2 of the restoration project nears completion, the Tonto signed a $1.5 million Good Neighbor Authority agreement to fund the third phase of treatments on the Payson Ranger District set to begin in late October 2024.

“This agreement enables us to continue the treatments within this project area with the assistance of DFFM, expanding our capacity to treat multiple project areas in this high-risk landscape,” said Payson District Ranger Matt Paciorek. “Our ultimate goal is to treat 7,600 acres in the Dude Fire area, but we have additional projects nearby under this GNA that will treat another 8,000 acres by the end of 2027.”

Currently, the Dude Fire Restoration Project is in its second phase, which involves the mastication of 1,143 acres to reduce tree densities and remove competing brush enhancing ponderosa pine stands and woodlands. The resulting effects will decrease competition for water and nutrients as well as forest fuels near private properties.

The third phase will treat an additional 2,140 acres approximately 8 miles northeast of the town of Payson, Ariz. Additional treatments will include the mastication of approximately 70 acres of slash piles located near the community of Ellison Creek Estates.

The treatments being planned and implemented in this multi-year project area are designed to safeguard communities and the resources they depend on such as watersheds and critical infrastructure, making the landscape more resilient and resistant to high intensity fires like the Dude Fire. In June 1990, this lightning-caused fire eventually burned more than 24,000 acres across two national forests, destroyed 63 homes and killed six firefighters from the Perryville Crew due to extremely hot, dry, and windy weather conditions and high fuel load.

Today, the Tonto has broadened its ability to treat this landscape at an increased pace and scale with the help of partners such as community-based, not-for-profit organization Salt River Project, who has attracted corporate sponsors that include Meta and EdgeCore. This partnership has vastly expanded our collective capacity to reduce hazardous fuels and restore the health and vigor of ponderosa pine stands and woodlands in this, and other project areas.

In addition, the Dude Fire project area contains an abundance of Emory oak that regenerated after the Dude Fire. Locally, the Emory oak is known as a culturally significant tree used by the local Indigenous peoples for its nutritional value.

“We will be masticating within areas of dense Emory oak and brush to increase tree health, growth, and acorn production,” said Tonto Silviculturist Patty Ringle. “This is part of the Emory Oak Collaborative Tribal Restoration Initiative, which will include installing permanent plots to monitor the effectiveness of these treatments. Pretreatment data will be collected this month.”

The Dude Fire project area is within the Four Forest Restoration Initiative landscape, a collaborative initiative that plans to treat 2.4 million acres across the Tonto, Coconino, Apache-Sitgreaves and Kaibab National Forests. In 2022, the Forest Service identified 4FRI as one of the 10 initial high-risk landscapes prioritized for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to address the wildfire crisis in the Southwest as part of its 10-year strategy.