Management
Our fire managers and personnel take a proactive approach toward forest management, and we will always approach unwanted wildfires with a full-suppression strategy.
However, many other types of fire are beneficial for the fire-adapted Ponderosa pine ecosystem of northern Arizona. By strategically managing low-intensity fire -- such as prescribed fire and lightning-caused wildfire -- our forest personnel work to keep the Coconino National Forest as healthy as possible to benefit the local ecosystem and communities that surround it.
Prescribed Burns
Prescribed burns are conducted within a “prescription” that defines the fuel moisture levels, air temperatures, wind conditions, and relative humidity levels that are appropriate for each project. Ecological Restoration Institute has created a white paper on prescribed burns and also a quick fact sheet on how prescribed burns are implemented, which are both very useful in understanding what goes into planning and executing a prescribed burn.
Keep Informed!
Any time there is a wildfire or a prescribed burn planned on the Coconino National Forest, we notify the public through many different mediums, including sending out news releases so that the newspapers and radio stations broadcast the information. We also post specific information about the burn projects online. Local Ranger Stations can also offer answers to many questions you may have. Click on the links below to keep informed about why you see smoke in the air:
- Check our Prescribed Burn Projects Inciweb page
- Sign up to receive our news releases
- Follow us on Twitter: @CoconinoNF
- Follow us on Facebook: @CoconinoNF
- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Daily Burn Approvals. Approved burn projects and their technical locations are posted daily to ADEQs site. The Coconino NF's approved burns will have a "Burn #" beginning with "COF" so you can identify if any have been approved for the day.
Air Quality Resources & Smoke Direction Maps
- ADEQ Air Quality Division Portable Particulate Monitor Readings
- AirNow Fire and Smoke Map
- Interagency Smoke Outlooks Map
- Prescribed burns protect you, your property, and your community by reducing forest fuel build-up by naturally thinning overcrowded forests. Thinned forests can recover faster and are more resistant to insect and disease attacks. Currently, many of the mature forests are overcrowded, resulting in a lack of vigor and health.
- Dead wood, overcrowded, unhealthy trees, and thick layers of pine needles can all contribute to catastrophic wildfires including crown fires. Prescribed burns help get rid of these forest fuels.
- Prescribed burns prepare the land for new growth and helps certain plants/trees germinate. When excess vegetation or needle layers are burned off, nitrogen and other nutrients are released into the soil and become available for new plants to grow.
- Many native plant and forest communities have adapted to fire for their germination and growth. Seed contact with soil (such as that exposed by a fire) is necessary for some species to naturally regenerate.
- Prescribed burns provide diverse habitat for plants and animals. Grazing wildlife such as Elk and Deer benefit from new growth as shrubs produce edible leaves when re-sprouting after a fire.
- Prescribed burns help protect communities from severe wildfires by creating buffer zones and areas where an out-of-control wildfire might be stopped due to lack of forest fuels.
News Articles & Studies About the Benefits of Prescribed Burns
- Alarmed by Scope of Wildfires - NY Times
- Wildfire Impacts Growing - Payson Roundup
- Wildfires called "inevitable" - Payson Roundup
- Smoke in Arizona's high country - Arizona Republic
- True Cost of Wildfire - Western Forestry Leadership Coalition
- Less severe fires can reduce intensity of future blazes - UC Davis
- Planned burns in Arizona vital to restoring forests - AZ Daily Star
- Comparative Assessment of the Impacts of Prescribed Burns vs. Wildfire - EPA
- The fire moved around it: success story calls for prescribed burns - The Guardian
- NAU study shows thinning and fire make ponderosa forests healthier - Arizona Daily Sun
Different methods and types of prescribed burns are used depending on the overall objective and what an area calls for. Some prescribed burns are combination of methods and/or types:
Methods
- Broadcast Burning means firefighters use a method of drip torches and walk across the landscape to broadcast the fire across large swaths of land (as depicted in the broad image at the top of this page). Wind helps push this low-intensity fire across the landscape.
- Pile Burning is burning forest slash that has been piled up from mechanical or hand-thinning projects. Pile burns are done during winter months when snow is on the ground so the heat can be managed safely.
Types
- An Initial Entry burn is in an area where it has been a very long time since fire was last on that particular landscape, which means there exists a significant amount of hazardous forest fuels. This leads to thicker and darker smoke as larger amounts of forest debris are consumed by fire. Initial Entry burns produce much thicker and darker smoke than Maintenance burns.
- A Maintenance burning means fire has moved across that landscape within at least the last decade. Maintenance burns are used to “maintain” an area and typically produce lighter and less smoke due to the lesser amount of forest fuels present, especially when compared to an Initial Entry burn.
Smoke Is a Necessary Part of Northern Arizona's Landscape
Ponderosa Pine forests are fire-adapted ecosystems. More than 100 years of effort to protect the American landscape from any fire has, in many cases, done the exact opposite. Today, we know that keeping fires out of the forests allows dead wood and other fuels to build up, so instead of natural and frequent low fires that clean up the forest like a janitor, flames can climb into the crowns of the trees, killing them and burning so hot that they leave total devastation and destruction to the landscape and communities. Mother Nature uses fire to right the balance, and we have kept that from happening and must now play catch-up in the form of prescribed burns and managed fires. We do not have a choice.
Fire and smoke will occur either one of two ways—either catastrophically or under safer conditions (i.e. prescribed burns or natural wildfires we manage when conditions are safe). Thus, we use prescribed burns and allow some lightning-caused wildfires to move across the landscape to clean and restore the forest to healthier conditions instead of the old ideology of suppressing every fire that pops up. The old ideology allowed for the buildup of forest fuels to a point where extremely hot fires destroy the landscape, property and communities.
Why Frequent Fire Is Necessary
It has been proven that frequent fire has been the historical and natural method for returning nitrogen to the soil in the Southwestern region. Fire is what makes wildflowers and other plants grow well, promoting wildlife habitat. Fire is what creates new grasses that reduce erosion. Fire protects watersheds from destruction, and fire also reduces the threat of catastrophic fire. In short, fire sustains the forest, and life in and around the forest—thus smoke is, unfortunately, inevitable.
Our prescribed burns are typically conducted during months when certain conditions are met to allow for burning in a safe manner. This generally includes months such as March through May and October through January. However, it is not automatically assigned by month, but is determined by weather conditions and many other factors (i.e. firefighting resources available, fuel moisture levels, air temperatures, humidity levels, etc.). As well, all prescribed burns are dependent on approval from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), including ventilation conditions.
Prescribed burns are necessary for two main reasons:
- To help create buffers around communities so that when a wildfire starts in extreme conditions, communities can have a fighting chance at protecting their homes and livelihood, and
- To help restore the forests to healthier conditions.
The smoke from any wildfire—including prescribed burns— is almost always the worst during the evening and morning hours, as smoke acts much like water and settles in low lying areas as the temperature cools. Fire managers strive to minimize smoke impacts to the community by working closely with ADEQ, partners in the Ponderosa Fire Advisory Council, as well as neighboring forests to monitor air quality.
Tactics Used to Lessen Smoke Impacts
Unfortunately, sometimes smoke from prescribed burns do impact communities, for which we apologize and do our best to mitigate. Tactics to keep smoke impacts as minimal as possible include:
- Canceling approved burns when conditions aren’t favorable,
- Finding alternative uses for the debris in slash piles,
- Timing daytime ignitions to allow the majority of smoke time to disperse prior to settling overnight, and
- Burning larger sections at a time to ultimately limit the number of days smoke is in the air.
Two Evils To Choose From
Though prescribed burns and managed fires that we allow to burn slowly across the landscape are typically a nuisance and the smoke is undesirable, evidence and studies prove that these types of fires are a much healthier alternative to catastrophic wildfires (remember, we only have two choices now: smoke from prescribed burns or smoke from catastrophic wildfire).
For example, a study released by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Institute of Standards and Technology show that smoke from prescribed burns have less of an impact on the environment than large wildfires—which pump huge amounts of particulates and Co2 into the air and atmosphere and kill off all vegetation, as well as produce much thicker plumes of smoke that are much more dangerous than smoke from prescribed/managed burns.
Additionally, a recent study done by the Western Forestry Leadership Coalition shows that costs associated with wildfires extend way beyond just the acres burned and the days or weeks of the fire event. There are direct, indirect, rehabilitation, and additional/contractual costs that prove to be much more expensive to taxpayers than the small costs and large benefits of prescribed burns and managed fires.
Large, uncontrolled wildfires have the capability of destroying landscape, property and life, and costs millions to fight, where smaller prescribed burns and managed wildfires merely produce undesirable smoke that we can at least deal with on a more manageable level. It is the lesser of two evils, and we are trying to be proactive in restoring the forest by using smaller, slow-moving fires to keep from large uncontrollable destructive wildfires happening.
Air Quality Resources & Smoke Direction Maps
- ADEQ Air Quality Division Portable Particulate Monitor Readings
- ADEQ Prescribed Burns Approval List
- AirNow Fire and Smoke Map
- Interagency Smoke Outlooks Map
The ADEQ provides final approval for prescribed burns throughout the state. If you are affected by smoke from a prescribed burn in the state of Arizona and feel you must file a complaint with ADEQ, please click below:
Each National Forest is assigned required annual acreage amounts for prescribed burns from their respective Regional Office, which receives its regional annual acreage amount goal from Washington D.C. Ultimately, target acres for prescribed burns are based on the amount of funds Congress allocates toward the Hazardous Fuels Reduction program, which trickles down across the nation to National Forests. This is an oversimplified explanation, but how it basically works.
We do not have the option of declining the assigned target acres given to us. Each year, the Coconino National Forest is typically assigned more than 40,000+ acres for a prescribed burn target.
Since each National Forest is given targets to reach each year, and since burns can only occur on days that are favorable (meaning, safe to do so with the right conditions), the National Forests in the southwest often burn on the same days, as there are only a certain amount of windows available each year to burn. This is where ADEQ comes in. ADEQ is the state agency that looks at all of the burn plans across the state, considers smoke impacts, monitors the air quality, and allows or rejects plans for prescribed burns.
Unfortunately, target acres for prescribed burns for each National Forest have increased over the years because catastrophic wildfires have increased and these prescribed burns help reduce the risk of that happening and burning down communities.
The following information is provided by Northern Arizona University - Ecological Restoration Institute
Implementing prescribed fire is a complex process that requires the coordination of many different agencies. Prior to implementing a prescribed burn, the trade-offs and benefits (such as smoke) are carefully assessed and planned. Clear objectives, specific desired outcomes, application of best available science, public and firefighter safety, and best management practices are important elements of successful prescribed fire programs. There are many steps required to conduct a safe and effective prescribed burn.
To permit a prescribed fire, agencies must first complete a comprehensive plan, e.g., Fire Management Plan, that provides general program objectives, and a Prescribed Fire Plan detailing site-specific strategies and prescriptions. The Prescribed Fire Plan identifies, or prescribes, the best conditions to burn unwanted forest debris, trees, and other plants to safely achieve the desired results. These plans consider factors such as temperature, humidity, wind, vegetation moisture, and smoke dispersal conditions. The plans are prepared and approved by qualified personnel, e.g., burn boss and agency administrator, and include criteria for the conditions and prescriptions under which the fire will be conducted. The Prescribed Fire Plan is reviewed and signed annually by the agency administrator to ensure the plan is current.
Prescribed Burn Plans
Project Area Description
The project area description is a detailed summary documenting all pertinent attributes, including descriptions of vegetation and fuels, unique features, and natural resources. The plan requires maps of the vicinity of the burn, project area, ignition units, and the location of values or assets at risk, e.g., homes, infrastructure, utilities.
Burn Prescriptions
Detailed prescriptions for each fire are prepared in advance, describing the objectives, fuels, area, precise environmental conditions under which the fire will be allowed to burn, and suppression conditions.
The Go/No-Go Checklist
Prescribed fire plans provide a written checklist that the burn boss certifies whether 12 critical requirements, conditions, and steps have been satisfied prior to ignition of the burn.
Pre-Ignition Considerations
Additional pre-ignition considerations are identified in an analysis developed to determine the complexity of the burn, mitigation options, and burn outcomes identified in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) decision and plan.
Implementation: Striking the Match
Prescribed Fire Ignition Plan
Before ignition, prescribed fire specialists complete a Go/No-Go checklist and conduct a test fire. The test fire is ignited in a representative location where the fire can be controlled easily and the results are documented. The purpose of the test fire is to verify that the prescribed fire behavior characteristics will meet management objectives and to verify predicted smoke dispersion. Based on these observations, the prescribed fire burn boss determines whether to continue with active ignition.
Contingency Planning
The contingency plan analysis is a part of the Prescribed Fire Plan. It considers low probability, high consequence events and identifies actions needed to mitigate them. Other important considerations include smoke management objectives, impacts to critical smoke receptors, burn staffing, and response plans for accidents or emergencies during the burn.
Managing Smoke
All prescribed burns must conform to the federal Clean Air Act requirements. Managing smoke emissions is a major objective. When acquiring burn permits and approvals, fire planners must identify smoke sensitive receptor areas, e.g., population centers, recreation areas, hospitals, airports, transportation corridors, schools, etc. This assessment typically includes computer modeling, mitigation strategies, and techniques to reduce the impacts of smoke production.
Unwanted Wildland Fire Declaration
A prescribed fire, or a portion of a prescribed fire, must be declared a wildfire by those identified in the burn plan with the authority to do so, when either or both of the following criteria are met:
- Prescription parameters, such as predicted fire behavior, climatic conditions, and fuel evaluations, are exceeded and holding and contingency actions cannot secure the fire by the end of the next burning period; or,
- The fire has spread outside the project area or is likely to do so, and the associated contingency actions have failed or are likely to fail, and the fire cannot be contained by the end of the next burning period.
Action Reviews: Measuring Burn Success
After Action Reviews evaluate whether the planned actions accomplished desired outcomes. This review allows participants to discover what happened, why it happened, and how to improve performance and correct mistakes or weaknesses. After Action Reviews are effective when conducted with all resources involved. Documentation and experience from these reviews and shared lessons learned can be invaluable to help guide future prescribed fire planning and implementation.
Managing Lightning-Caused Fires
Long before humans built homes and other valuable infrastructure here in northern Arizona, lightning played a role in fulfilling the natural fire cycle of the Ponderosa pine ecosystem. A “Managed Fire” is a response strategy to naturally-ignited wildfires; it does not prioritize full suppression and allows the wildfire to fulfill its natural role on the landscape, meeting objectives such as firefighter safety, resource benefit, and community protection.
This wildfire management strategy can be effective for reducing tree densities, landscape homogeneity, fuel load continuity, and future fire behavior, while also working to reintroduce fire to fire-prone ecosystems.
While prescribed burns involve deliberately igniting fire to burn in a planned and controlled manner to achieve certain objectives, managed fire entails managing wildfire for an objective “other than full suppression.” Rather than suppress select wildfires as soon as possible, at the smallest possible size, practitioners manage them in a way that achieves ecologically beneficial outcomes and enhances community safety, creating buffers around them against possible future catastrophic wildfires.
When an area has been treated with a prescribed burn or managed fire, it is far less challenging for firefighters to safely manage that area when a wildfire burns there later — making it significantly easier to protect life and property. Forest fire managers will proactively manage many (but not all) lightning-caused fires to benefit the health of the Coconino National Forest.
The science that is available now proves that a healthy Ponderosa forest is made of widely spaced, fire-resistant trees, where fire is frequent and necessary to create soil that accepts Ponderosa seeds and allows for germination. Fire is a natural element of this ecosystem, and it will occur whether we like it or not, so using tools such as prescribed burns and managed fires allows us keep fire on the landscape that can protect us all in the future.
Full-Suppression Fire
If a new wildfire start is unwanted, our firefighters will approach the fire with a full-suppression strategy. This means fire managers will implement tactics to confine the fire to as small a perimeter as possible as quickly as possible, while prioritizing firefighter and public safety.
Fires are unwanted if they create a threat to public safety and infrastructure, happen during critical fire weather (such as drought, high temperatures and fast winds), are started in inopportune areas, and cannot safely be managed with available firefighting resources. Our fire managers always approach human-caused wildfires with a full-suppression strategy.