Management
The White River National Forest is part of the Upper Colorado River Interagency Fire Management Unit (UCR). The UCR is a combined effort of the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service's firefighting resources. It covers 5.8 million acres along the Interstate 70, Colorado River and Roaring Fork River corridors from the Continental Divide to the Utah state line. The UCR includes the White River National Forest and the BLM’s Upper Colorado River District. The UCR cooperates with other federal and state agencies, local communities, and fire departments on a wide range of activities including fuels treatments, fire prevention, and suppression.
Pile Burning
Slash piles are the result of past work thinning and clearing vegetation to reduce the risk of unwanted wildfires and improve wildlife habitat. Firefighters will only burn slash piles when there is snow on the ground and weather conditions allow for a safe, effective burn and optimal smoke dispersal.
Fire Planning
Interagency Federal fire policy requires that every area with burnable vegetation must have a Fire Management Plan. Our fire plan provides information with regard to the fire process for the White River National Forest and compiles guidance from existing sources such as but not limited to, the White River National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan, national policy, and national and regional directives.
Burned Area Emergency Response
Phases of Post-Wildfire Recovery
After a wildfire is contained on federal lands, there are three phases of recovery:
1) Fire Suppression Repair. This work, to rehabilitate areas impacted by fire suppression activities, was completed by Incident Management Teams throughout late September and October of 2017.
2) Emergency Stabilization-Burned Area Emergency Response. Known as "BAER" for short, this is a rapid scientific assessment of imminent threats to human life and safety, property, and critical natural or cultural resources on National Forest System lands. These "threats" are hazards due to changes to the landscape caused by the fire -- which can dislodge boulders, created weakened trees at risk of falling at any moment, and increase the potential for landslides and flash floods. The scientific assessment is used to identify immediate emergency stabilization measures and helps the agency prioritize funds to be allocated for mitigation activities such as hazard tree removal, rock scaling, and construction of stabilization features (such as rockfall fences) as well as improved alert system and signs about hazards for visitors.
3) Long-Term Recovery and Restoration. This includes the work to rebuild and repair trails and replace burned infrastructures such as bridges and signs. It can include ecological restoration work in places -- however, given that most of this fire took place within a designed Wilderness area, the management policy calls for little to no human intervention on the forest's natural regeneration process.