Fire today ManagementVolume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000

TO BBURNURN OR OR NOT TTO BBURNURN?

United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Editor’s note: As we enter the 21st century, fire use in wildland manage­ ment is growing. This issue of Fire Management Today focuses on the question of wildland burning. In a pair of thought-provoking essays, Stephen J. Pyne explores some of the challenges facing wildland managers in using fire for ecosystem health. Jim Paxon, fire information officer on the Cerro Grande Fire in May 2000, discusses his experiences on the fire; an escaped prescribed burn, the Cerro Grande Fire threatened the town of Los Alamos, NM, touching off debate on prescribed fire. Gerald W. Williams explores how the 20th century framed the question of wildland burning, shaping attitudes for decades to come. Articles by former USDA Forest Service Chief William B. Greeley and by L.E. Wilkes exemplify opposing viewpoints in the 20th-century fire use debate. Understanding the origins of attitudes toward fire use today will help wildland managers more wisely use fire in the future.

Fire Management Today is published by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this Department.

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Dan Glickman, Secretary April J. Baily U.S. Department of Agriculture General Manager

Mike Dombeck, Chief Robert H. “Hutch” Brown, Ph.D. Forest Service Managing Editor

José Cruz, Director Gerald W. Williams, Ph.D. Fire and Aviation Management Issue Coordinator

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Disclaimer: The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Individual authors are responsible for the technical accuracy of the material presented in Fire Management Today. Fire today Management Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000

On the Cover: CONTENTS No Fuel Like an Old Fuel ...... 4 Stephen J. Pyne

A Story To Tell ...... 6 Stephen J. Pyne

“Remember Los Alamos”: The Cerro Grande Fire ...... 9 Jim Paxon

Prescribed fire under ponderosa Wildland Fire Management in the 20th Century ...... 15 pines on the Fort Valley Experi­ Gerald W. Williams mental Forest, Coconino National Forest, AZ. During “Paiute Forestry” or the Fallacy of Light Burning ...... 21 much of the 20th century, William B. Greeley Federal and State agencies tried to exclude fire from our public Preservation of Forests: Judicious Firing of Debris wildlands. Today, land managers are increasingly using fire to in Wet Autumn Is Urged ...... 27 help restore ecosystem health. L.E. Wilkes Photo: Allen Farnsworth, USDA Forest Service, Coconino Franklin Awards Honor Achievements in State National Forest, Peaks Ranger and Local Cooperation ...... 29 District, Flagstaff, AZ, 1996. April J. Baily (The photo won first place for prescribed fire in our 2000 photo Fifteen Smokey Awards Presented for 1999 ...... 33 contest—see the story on page Dianne Daley Laursen 38.) First Annual Photo Contest ...... 38 Hutch Brown

The FIRE 21 symbol (shown below and on the cover) stands for the safe and effective use of wildland fire, now and throughout the 21st SHORT FEATURES century. Its shape represents the fire triangle (oxygen, heat, and fuel). The three outer red triangles represent the basic functions of wildland fire organizations (planning, operations, and Guidelines for Contributors...... 28 aviation management), and the three critical aspects of wildland fire management (prevention, suppression, and prescription). The black interior Websites on Fire...... 32 represents land affected by fire; the emerging green points symbolize the growth, restoration, and sustainability associated with fire-adapted Photo Contest for 2001 ...... 43 ecosystems. The flame represents fire itself as an ever-present force in nature. For more inform­ ation on FIRE 21 and the science, research, and innovative thinking behind it, contact Mike Apicello, National Interagency Fire Center, 208-387-5460.

Firefighter and public safety is our first priority. NO FUEL LIKE AN OLD FUEL

Stephen J. Pyne

here are plenty of reasons to control-burn and many ways More biomass does not always mean T to do it. But we are often told a bigger fire when the spark strikes. that burning is necessary simply to prevent conflagrations and that it is easier, cheaper, and safer than fires, the less likely in fact it might burn waste in fireplaces or piles. If fire suppression. It is, inherently, be that fire can enter a landscape the problem is a technical one—to none of these. at all. remove fuel—then many tools are available. Some tools might be Free-burning fire is as complex as It is also critical to distinguish better than flame, shuffling or the living world that sustains it. between biomass and fuel. Only a crunching debris without causing There are biotas that more or less fraction of plant matter is available smoke or risking escaped fires. It is expect fire, biotas that tolerate it, to burn; and its combustibility not possible to flash-burn a tex­ and biotas that suffer from it. More depends not only on its quantity tured woods the way oil wells can precisely, places accommodate the but also on its arrangement. Piling flare off unwanted gas. The places regimes under which fire appears. ponderosa pine needles on top of that most need fire—sites that in Applying and removing fire affects one another for decades does not the past were routinely flushed by each of them differently. increase fire hazard proportion­ surface flames—are generally ately; only the upper crust can those where fuels cannot now Understanding Fuels carry the flaming front. Adding accept a beneficial spark without Fire-prone places tend to amass annual rings to an old-growth elaborate preparations. The old fuels quickly—that is partly what Douglas-fir does not stoke larger fuels that most need burning are makes them prone to fire. Regular fires; again, only the outer fraction precisely those that are toughest to burning trims the scrub, dampen­ will respond to the flame, and if burn. ing accidental or natural wildland the tree is living, its internal fires even as it often jolts the biota moisture will render it more a heat There are also better and worse to renewed vigor. Shutting flame sink than a heat source. The flame ways to burn through the excess down on fire-prone sites means will seek out its needles, if it can fuel. Preindustrial societies prac­ that the combustibles ratchet reach them; what matters is tice a kind of fire foraging (burn­ upward, pile on pile. The longer whether the surface fuels can carry ing as fuel presents itself) or fire the time between fires, the more fire into the crown. The critical fire cultivating (growing fuels within fuel accrues to stoke the inevitable landscapes are those in which agricultural cycles). The American blowup when it comes. aging plants add year by year to the model, however, tries to mold available fuel load. Old biotas do controlled burning in the image of But a blowup is not everywhere not automatically mean worse fuel fire suppression. The legal and inevitable. Some biotas simply age conditions. regulatory environments in which without becoming more combus­ open flame must today exist push tible. Many landscapes are cultural Managing Fuels agencies in this direction, but so creations; removing their fire Still, flame is a dandy way to cull does their own history. Controlled might nudge their biota into forms those unwanted combustibles and fire is reemerging through institu­ that become fire-excluding. More the fires that cling to them. Until tions designed to fight fire; fire biomass does not always mean a recently, controlled burning was suppression still pays for the bigger fire when the spark strikes. the primary way people checked infrastructure upon which all of The longer the interval between wildland fire. But it was not the fire management depends. The only way: People could cut, move, promise that the agencies can halt Steve Pyne is a professor in the Biology and or plant; they could turn flocks out escaped fires underpins the social Society Program, Department of Biology, to graze and browse; they could contract under which modern Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. societies allow deliberate burning.

4 Fire Management Today But to conduct controlled fire on a consideration is not fuel reduction Perhaps we have it backward. To fire suppression model is, in the but the larger biotic cycling, the argue that we need fire solely to end, to share its costs, risks, shaking and baking, that fire sets reduce fuel shrivels fire to the dangers, and difficulties. Pre­ in motion. For this, no surrogate status of a flaming ax, and it scribed fire demands, instead, a technology exists because free- simplifies fuels to the status of variety of methods, many unique burning fire is not a “tool” but an carbon bullion, inert as sawn to itself. Suppression is much the ecological process. Other ecologi­ lumber. Burning becomes a choice, same everywhere; prescribed fire cal events must accommodate it; not an ecological necessity. The is—or should be—everywhere other tools must serve it; other fuel crisis invites us to pick up, as different. Not least, controlled cultural values must bow to it. it were, the other end of the burning needs institutional room firestick. It suggests that, instead to maneuver as much as it needs Not every place meets this crite­ of regarding controlled fire prima­ environmental space. It needs the rion. Even places groaning under rily as a means to manage fuels, legal and bureaucratic equivalent ponderous fuels might not demand perhaps we should think of fuels as of landscape-scale treatments. fire to burn away the surplus. For a means to manage the burning a sites that do insist on fire, the biota needs, to imagine fire as a Burning for Biotic burning must be regular enough threatened species and devise a Health and patchy enough that fuels do suitable habitat for it. If that Besides, this still begs the question not evolve to the point where an ecological imperative isn’t there, of why one should burn at all. For introduced flame will either then probably prescribed fire ■ burning to be compulsory—worth explode amid kindling or extin­ shouldn’t be, either. almost any risk—the critical guish in wet shade.

Greenup after a surface fire passed through a red-cockaded woodpecker colony in longleaf pine on North Carolina’s Croatan National Forest. Regular burning in longleaf pine, a fire-adapted forest type, trims the hardwood scrub, dampens the severity of future fires, and jolts the biota to renewed vigor. Photo: Bill Lea, USDA Forest Service, 1994.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 5 A STORY TO TELL

Stephen J. Pyne

nyone even casually acquaint­ ed with America’s wildland The difference between A fire scene knows the chasm fire suppression and fire use is that between fire control and fire use. firefighting can tell a marvelous story, Fire control holds the money; fire suppression created and maintains whereas prescribed burning cannot. the institutional infrastructure; and firefighting has historically dominated the culture of wildland fire management. Until recent decades, fire managers never stood accused of misbehavior for sup­ pressing smokes, as they might be held liable for a kindled flame that escaped—or, more tellingly, for failing to burn a site that craved it. The assumption was that one fought a fire unless told not to, but that one set a fire only after con­ sidering every conceivable contin­ gency and every constituency. Whatever public policy urged and personal philosophy prompted, the reality was a powerful bias in favor of fire control. Sawtooth Hotshots conducting a night burnout on the Rabbit Creek Fire, part of the 1994 Idaho City Complex. Since 1910, a powerful narrative of firefighter heroism has helped to popularize wildland fire suppression. Photo: Karen Wattenmaker, USDA Forest Service, False Rivalry Boise National Forest, Boise, ID, 1994. It is natural, then, that proponents of controlled fire should try to model of firefighting, complete fire control like two bull elks correct that imbalance by match­ with similar language, tools, and bugling a challenge and locking ing suppression, item for item; by elan. horns, one or the other to triumph. demanding flexible funding, and Rather, it sinks from the bites of a lots of it, similar to the emergency Such measures might succeed. The million mosquitoes, reddened into fire accounts; by fielding burn old landscapes, however, did not frustration, plagued into lethargy. crews analogous to hotshots; by result from a regimen of burning Suppression is not, in truth, the creating a parallel program of modeled on suppression, so it is problem. Controlled fire must certification; by seeking to change doubtful that this particular pro­ make its own case, not rise out of liability laws to create legal space cess will recover exactly what fire the ruins of fire control. for burning and to tweak environ­ exclusion has lost. But it doesn’t mental edicts to accommodate have to: Almost any fire is better The Role of Epic smoke; by hosting National Pre­ than none at all. The deeper issue For this, it needs a story. Criticism scribed Fire Awards akin to the is what it will take to slash through leads to skepticism; story, to Smokey Bear Awards; and by all the institutional scrub and burn action. The most elemental differ­ conducting firesetting on the away public skepticism. ence between fire suppression and Steve Pyne is a professor in the Biology and fire use is that firefighting can tell Society Program, Department of Biology, The fact is, suppression is a false a marvelous story—an environ­ Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. rival. Controlled fire does not face mental epic—and prescribed

6 Fire Management Today The Big Blowup of 1910 The process took decades, luck, became the founding saga for wildland and bureaucratic grit. Why did fire control’s proponents persist? Why firefighting’s heroic age. did the public finally believe them and not their rivals? The simplest explanation is that they had a burning cannot. It is easy to forget until after World War II. Until powerful story to tell and their that fire control did not take the then, the American public was critics did not. As nearly as one can country by storm. From the begin­ largely indifferent or hostile to date such matters, that narrative ning, it fought a bitter policy battle wildland fire control. Fire suppres­ emerged from the ashes of the with light burning that lasted for sion initially faced every bit as 1910 conflagrations. Majestic, decades, and it laid an even more many challenges as controlled huge, lethal, the Big Blowup stubborn siege to public opinion, burning does today. Yet it over­ became the founding saga—a whose citadel did not crumble came them all. Kalevala, a Song of Roland—for wildland firefighting’s heroic age. The narrative of 1910 explained what firefighting meant, and it became institutionalized to the virtual exclusion of any other narrative. To it, America owes its wildland fire establishment. Light burners had no such saga to sing. Neither do prescribed fire advo­ cates today. A Fire Use Saga? Until a prescribed fire saga ap­ pears, it is doubtful that controlled burning will succeed to the extent that its advocates desire and America’s wildlands deserve. It isn’t enough for controlled fire to continue to swat mosquitoes, even by the millions. It needs the capacity to ignore them, to bull ahead through the muskeg of politics and public opinion, confi­ dent that it will thrive in the end. Nor is it enough to downgrade suppression. Fire control’s loss is not necessarily controlled fire’s gain. The problem is not suppres­ sion (which is necessary) or the literary set-piece of the firefight, but rather the absence of a complementary story for con­ trolled burning. Prescribed fire A jaunty Joe Halm after the Big Blowup in 1910. Halm was a young ranger for the USDA Forest Service, hired in 1909 out of Washington State College, where he had been a foot­ does not need more policy. It needs ball star and among the first forestry graduates. Halm managed to save his camp and a poet. ■ crew, then announced they would dig out their gear, order reinforcements, and hit the fires again. That was the attitude of the Service overall, and the story that would ulti­ mately prevail. Photo: Courtesy of Stephen J. Pyne, Forest Service Photograph Collection (Forest Service, 1910; 179326).

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 7 THE BIG BLOWUP

They remain the fires of record. They became huge because they timed perfectly the shift from a rural, frontier society to one industrializing, settling into cities, and committed to public lands. Wildfires broke loose in a vast arc from California to Washington to Minnesota. On August 20–21, 1910, more than a million acres (400,000 ha) burned in one gulp when winds over the northern Rockies stirred a maelstrom of flame, the fabled Big Blowup.

Virtually every story of fire protection on the public lands can trace its modern origins to 1910. Some 9,000 firefighters dug line; 78 of them died, leading to the first fire memorial and burial ground. The emergency fire fund claimed a staggering $1 million. An Army platoon hauled an injured bear cub out of the burns. Forest rangers were shipped from Utah and Arizona to help direct crews in Montana. A 26-year-old crew boss saved his men by setting an escape fire on the slopes of the Bitterroot Mountains and ordering the crew to lie in the ash. Even as the fires roared, a public debate raged over the proposition that “light burning,” not fire control, was the proper method of forest protection.

The fires were the first public crisis of Chief Forester Henry Graves, who had earlier that year replaced the discharged Gifford Pinchot. The head of the Northern Region, William Greeley, succeeded Graves as Chief during the 1920’s; and Greeley’s assistant, Ferdinand Silcox, became Chief throughout the New Deal, during which the Civilian Conservation Corps built the infrastructure the 1910 crews had sorely lacked and who, after the 1934 wildfire outbreak in the Rockies, promulgated the 10 A.M. Policy of suppressing all fires by 10 a.m. on the morning after they were first reported. Not until this entire generation passed away did the Forest Service consider fire as fit for anything save suppression.

Rightly or not, the drama eventually found its moral center in the story of Edward Pulaski, a ranger who held his panicked crew at gun­ point in a mine adit while the firestorm raged. It was Pulaski who stayed on the district to fight again, who tended the graves of the dead firefighters, and who promoted the tool that today bears his name. Every time a smokechaser, hotshot, or emergency firefighter hefts a pulaski tool, he or she is retelling the saga of 1910.

Eventually, the Big Blowup burned over the whole of the 20th century.

The eye of the 1910 firestorm, Pulaski’s tunnel, now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Photo: Courtesy of National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Forest Service Photograph Collection, Beltsville, MD (J. Halm, 1910; 179329).

8 Fire Management Today “REMEMBER LOS ALAMOS”: THE CERRO GRANDE FIRE

Jim Paxon

n May 2000, a prescribed fire on the Bandelier National Monu- The Cerro Grande Fire resulted from I ment near Los Alamos, NM, an escaped prescribed burn designed to escaped to become one of the minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire worst wildfires in the region’s history. The fire burned tens of to the community of Los Alamos. thousands of acres and destroyed hundreds of homes in and around Prescribed Fire about 10 miles thereby minimize the risk of the town of Los Alamos. The fire southwest of Los Alamos (fig. 1). catastrophic wildfire to the com- drew national attention, partly The objective of the prescribed munity of Los Alamos and the Los because it endangered the Los burn was to reduce fuels and Alamos National Laboratory. Alamos National Laboratory, where the atomic bomb was created in 1944 and where nuclear research RESCRIBED IRE NVESTIGATION* continues today. A fire investiga­ P F I tion team concluded that Federal On May 11, just 6 days after a prescribed fire on the Bandelier Na­ personnel had failed to properly tional Monument escaped to become the Cerro Grande Fire, Secre­ plan and implement the prescribed tary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt formed an interagency fire investi­ burn (see sidebar). gation team to examine the surrounding circumstances. The Fire’s Origins The team concluded that Federal personnel had failed to: The Bandelier National Monu­ ment, administered by the USDI • Utilize the correct National Park Service complexity analysis National Park Service (NPS) from process; monument headquarters in Los • Conduct a substantive review of the prescribed fire plan before it Alamos, has 32,737 acres (13,248 was approved; ha) of remote wildlands mostly • Evaluate fuel conditions, potential fire behavior, and public safety surrounded by the Santa Fe in the area adjacent to the prescribed fire boundary in the event the National Forest. The topography is fire escaped; broken by mountains and mesas • Complete and document, prior to ignition, an onsite review of bisected by steep, rugged canyons. critical conditions identified in the prescribed fire plan; Woodlands of pinyon–juniper in • Provide adequate contingency resources to successfully suppress an the canyons give way to ponderosa escaped fire; pine and mixed conifer forests at • Provide wind predictions in the 3- to 5-day forecast for the period higher elevations. from May 7 to May 9; and • Follow safety policies for firefighters and the public. On May 4, at about 7 p.m., NPS personnel from the monument The investigation team reaffirmed the Federal Wildland Fire Manage­ ignited the Upper Frijoles ment Policy adopted in 1995, which endorses fire use “to protect, maintain, and enhance resources.” The team warned, however, that Jim Paxon is the district ranger for the Black Range Ranger District, Gila the policy’s success depends on strict adherence to full policy imple­ National Forest, Truth or Consequences, mentation throughout every agency and at every level. NM. He served as the fire information officer for the incident management team on the Cerro Grande Fire near Los *Based on the Bandelier National Monument Prescribed Fire Investigation Report delivered to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt on May 18, 2000. Alamos, NM.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 9 Leonard Atencio of the Santa Fe National Forest jointly called for a type 1 incident management team. The Southwest Area Team, headed by Larry Humphrey, a fuels spe­ cialist for the USDI Bureau of Land Management in Safford, AZ, arrived at midnight and took command of the fire at 6:00 a.m. on May 8. As the fire information officer for the team, I was about to experience one of the most chal­ lenging assignments of my career. Severe Fire Conditions The previous winter had been the driest on record in much of Arizona and New Mexico. The southwestern forests had received no more than 20 percent of aver­ age winter moisture. Spring temperatures were higher than normal and winds were strong and continuous, further drying fuels. Haines Indexes of 5 and 6 and Energy Release Components (E.R.C.’s) in the high 80’s indicated severe drought conditions in early May, the time of ignition.

In most of the area’s forests, thousand-hour fuels—logs greater than 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter— never reached more than 10 Figure 1—The area burned by the Cerro Grande Fire near Los Alamos, NM. The fire began on May 4, 2000, as a prescribed burn by National Park Service personnel in the percent in residual moisture. By northwest corner of Bandelier National Monument, near Cerro Grande peak. After a comparison, a kiln-dried 2-inch by slopover on May 5, the burn was declared a wildfire. Pushed by strong winds, the fire 4-inch (5-cm by 10-cm) board burned eastward and northeastward for weeks, reaching a ski area on Pajarito Mountain, from the lumberyard has 12 to 15 the city of Los Alamos, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory and threatening the town of White Rock and the American Indian Pueblos of Santa Clara and San Ildefonso. percent moisture. Only at the highest elevations, where some snow had accumulated, did thou- On May 5, a slopover on the the site and worked to contain the sand-hour fuels approach their northeast side of the burn required 800-acre (340-ha) fire. normal moisture of 20 percent. aerial retardant to contain it. The aerial action crossed the threshold On May 7, strong winds pushed the Although major fires had burned in the burn plan, triggering a fire across firelines. A crown fire near Los Alamos in 1977 (the La 1 p.m. announcement by the NPS ran eastward onto the Santa Fe Mesa Fire), 1996 (the Dome Fire), that the Upper Frijoles burn was National Forest, spreading towards and 1998 (the Oso Fire), fire had now a wildfire. Handcrews, heli­ Los Alamos (fig. 1). Almost imme­ not visited the area of the pre­ copters, airtankers, and engines diately, Superintendent Roy scribed burn for almost 30 years. from the Santa Fe Interagency Fire Weaver of Bandelier National West of Los Alamos, at the point of Management Zone converged on Monument and Supervisor ignition, decades of fire exclusion

10 Fire Management Today in ponderosa pine and mixed Decades of fire exclusion had left thick fuels conifer stands had left thick fuels of dead and down material in the area of dead and down material, includ­ ing many standing dead trees with of the Cerro Grande Fire. heavy ladder fuels. Monument, the Santa Fe National • The danger to habitat for threat­ At 10,000 feet (3,000 m), Cerro Forest, the State of New Mexico, ened and endangered species; Grande Peak (fig. 1) is the area’s the city and county of Los Alamos, and dominant landmark. Deep canyons the Los Alamos National Labora­ • The risk to cultural heritage with extensive evidence of historic tory, the U.S. Department of sites. and prehistoric settlement, steep Energy (DOE), the American slopes with dense pine forests, and Indian Pueblos of San Ildefonso Our first and highest priorities picturesque rock cliffs abound in and Santa Clara, and the Baca were (1) firefighter and public the area. The very features that Land and Cattle Company. Myriad safety, and (2) protection of private make this country so stunningly issues included: property. beautiful also complicate control strategies for firefighters. • The risk to the communities of Evacuating Los Alamos White Rock, Abiquiu, Española, Interagency wildland firefighting On the afternoon of May 7, the and Los Alamos; procedures call for a wildland fire Cerro Grande Fire made a wind- • The effects of fire on the Los situation analysis (WFSA) to driven run that was a mile (1.6 Alamos National Laboratory; evaluate fire management alterna­ km) wide and more than 6 miles • The potential for fire to get into tives and select the best approach. (9.7 km) long. Crews were able to nuclear storage areas and low- The WFSA on the Cerro Grande stop the run on the Pajarito Ski level nuclear dumps; Fire was unusually complex, Area road, west of Los Alamos • Security concerns related to because it potentially involved nine Canyon. Expanses of unburned fuel classified research sites; jurisdictions and several commu­ remained both to the north and • The threat to ancient lands and nities. Signatories to the WFSA east of Cerro Grande Peak, with no national treasures of the two included the Bandelier National break or opening for firefighter American Indian Pueblos; advantage and with Los Alamos directly in the path of any renewed run. To the south, along both sides of State Highway 501 (fig. 1), modified fuelbreaks had been cut in a cooperative venture between the Los Alamos National Labora­ tory and the Santa Fe National Forest following the 1996 Dome Fire. Firefighters were able to burn out the fuelbreaks and hold the fire, securing the cleared areas. Highway 501 provided much- needed access for firefighters and equipment to the west end of the fire and up the road to the Pajarito Ski Area.

On the morning of May 8, Hum­ phrey’s Southwest Area Team held Cerro Grande Fire burning in Santa Clara Canyon near Los Alamos, NM. Steep, densely its first planning and strategy forested terrain complicated control strategies for wildland firefighters. Photo: W.R. meeting with the Los Alamos Fire Fortini, Jr., USDA Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Mountainair Ranger District, Department, the Los Alamos Mountainair, NM, 2000.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 11 National Laboratory, and Robert The situation on the Cerro Grande Fire was Repass, the Los Alamos County unusually complex, because it potentially involved Emergency Operations Coordina­ tor (EOC). We agreed that if the nine jurisdictions and several communities. fire advanced into the steep and heavily timbered Los Alamos minor vehicle accident occurred, the fire; another type 1 incident Canyon, then we would immedi­ and there were no injuries. Emer­ management team led by Van ately begin evacuating the entire gency personnel and some media Bateman, the fire management town of Los Alamos through an crews remained. officer for the Forest Service, evacuation order issued to law Coconino National Forest, Blue enforcement personnel and all Overwhelmed by flames, wildland Ridge Ranger District, Flagstaff, media outlets. firefighters moved to safety zones AZ, arrived to manage the north and watched as the blowup passed. half of the fire. For 3 days, we notified the remain­ Crews near the Pajarito Ski Area ing Los Alamos residents of the worked to save the ski lodge, Because this fire burned for so fire’s status through the Los outbuildings, ski lifts, and equip­ long and because teams are limited Alamos County EOC, local televi­ ment. In Los Alamos, 31 fire to 14 days of active duty, other type sion and radio stations, and the departments using 100 fire engines 1 and 2 teams rotated in. Hum­ three major television networks in and support vehicles battled the phrey’s team left Los Alamos on Albuquerque, NM. All local stations blaze head on. Along State High­ May 20, replaced by a type 1 team carried continuous fire coverage. way 501, the fire jumped the from California led by Steve Gage, Residents were consistently told to fireline and reached the grounds a fire department supervisor for prepare for evacuation by gather­ of the Los Alamos National Labora­ Kern County, CA. All told, three ing their most precious belong­ tory. In less than 6 hours, the fire type 1 teams, three area command ings. On the afternoon of May 8, as grew from 3,700 acres (1,500 ha) teams, and four type 2 teams a precautionary measure, we asked to more than 18,000 acres would manage all or part of the residents to evacuate the western (7,300 ha). In the early morning Cerro Grande Fire throughout the part of Los Alamos. Many took hours of May 11, 7,000 residents of suppression and rehabilitation heed; about 3,000 residents volun­ White Rock were evacuated due to process. tarily left the area. Beginning on fire threat. May 8, the DOE’s Los Alamos Area On May 12, President Clinton Office and the Los Alamos National declared Los Alamos and the area Laboratory released their employ­ Containment of the Cerro Grande Fire a national ees and contractors until the On large and complex wildfires, disaster area. The Federal Emer­ emergency was over. Many local the interagency Incident Com­ gency Management Agency businesses voluntarily closed. mand System calls for “branch­ ing”—bringing in additional teams (FEMA) arrived to begin recovery in coordination with the State On May 10, despite a Herculean to manage specific portions of the of New Mexico and local effort by firefighting forces, fire. Each team works under the communities. winds topping 50 miles per hour oversight of an area command (80 km/h) drove the fire across team. After the May 10 blowup on At 6:00 p.m. on June 6, the Cerro firelines. Spotting occurred more the Cerro Grande Fire, Humphrey’s Grande Fire was finally declared than a mile (1.6 km) ahead of the Southwest Area Team and the contained. As of June 20, about flames. At 1:30 p.m., when a smoke agency administrators from the 1,000 people, including hundreds column appeared from the bottom NPS and Forest Service jointly of local volunteers, were preparing of Los Alamos Canyon, the call to decided to branch the fire for the burned area for monsoon rains evacuate came from the Los better logistics and control. An to minimize the potential for Alamos County EOC. Within area command team headed by devastating floods following the 4 hours, the entire remaining Bob Meuchel, a fuels specialist for wildfire (see the sidebar on population of Los Alamos, about the Forest Service, Northern page 14). 8,000 people, left town. Only one Region, Missoula, MT, was brought in to oversee the two branches of

12 Fire Management Today Our first and highest priorities as Senator Pete Domenici of New were firefighter and public safety, Mexico, Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, and Representatives Tom and protection of private property. Udall and Heather Wilson of New Mexico. New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson was often on the fire, Ultimately, the fire consumed A Challenging even donning Nomex clothing to 47,650 acres (19,284 ha) and Experience take action on a small blaze near a destroyed 235 homes in Los In my 31 years of experience in house in Los Alamos. Alamos, including multifamily wildland fire management, includ­ dwellings. Some 600 families were ing 16 years as a fire information The fire was covered live and displaced. Estimated losses officer, I have never been on an continuously on local networks for reached more than $1 billion; incident more complex or chal­ more than a week and was a some people lost everything they lenging than the Cerro Grande primary topic of national news­ owned. At various times, more Fire. As the official spokesperson casts and talk shows. On May 7, to than 2,500 firefighters and support for the Southwest Area Team, I was help cope with the public demand personnel were involved in battling in the hot seat. for information, we activated a the blaze. multiagency Joint Information We had daily contacts with the Center in Los Alamos. The center The fire burned nearly 8,000 acres White House, several Senators and was evacuated to White Rock on (3,200 ha) on the grounds of the Congressmen, and many State and May 10, to Santa Fe on May 11, Los Alamos National Laboratory, a local officials. We had personal and finally to Española on May 13. major public safety concern due to appearances on the fire by Secre­ On May 14, media interested the nuclear materials located on tary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, peaked, with 18 large satellite laboratory grounds. Multiagency Secretary of Energy Bill trucks parked at the Los Alamos air monitoring, begun in the first Richardson, Forest Service Chief Inn and many international week of the fire, found no evidence Mike Dombeck, National Park reporters present. At the height of that the fire caused any releases of Service Director Bob Stanton, and activity, more than 40 fire informa­ radiation or chemicals from FEMA Director James Witt, as well tion officers from all the agencies laboratory facilities.

Airtanker dropping retardant along a ridgetop to slow the approaching Cerro Grande Fire. Handcrews, engines, and aircraft worked day and night to protect homes in and around Los Alamos. On June 6, after more than 4 weeks, the fire was finally declared contained. Photo: W.R. Fortini, Jr., USDA Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Mountainair Ranger District, Mountainair, NM, 2000.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 13 involved were handling 2,000 to Alamos goes to the Los Alamos land–urban interface that many 5,000 phone calls per day to the Fire Department and the many more could have been lost, if not Joint Information Center. Fire and cooperating departments; to the for the heroic efforts and determi­ disaster updates were issued up to Los Alamos City and County nation of the volunteer and full- four times daily. Police; and to Humphrey’s South­ time structural firefighters who west Area Team, along with the faced the fire head on. A Model of hundreds of firefighters who Cooperation worked tirelessly under grueling In conclusion, Los Alamos and the The Cerro Grande Fire can serve as conditions for seemingly endless surrounding communities suffered a model for advanced fire course days on end. appalling losses in a disaster of the simulations and for case studies by first order. But I am confident that government agencies and universi­ Our commitment to safety paid off: they will rebuild stronger and ties on cooperation and coordina­ Throughout the incident, no better than before. The fire depart­ tion among disparate entities firefighter or evacuee received ment, law enforcement, and under complex, unique conditions. burns, and there were only three emergency personnel who experi­ The smooth evacuation of Los minor accidents requiring no more enced this incident firsthand are Alamos was a credit to Los Alamos than first aid treatment. The all heroes. As for me and my team, County and to the Los Alamos evacuations of both Los Alamos on we have shared in a piece of history National Laboratory for their May 10 and White Rock on May 11 that we will pass on to our children thorough emergency preparations. were so orderly and calm that they and grandchildren. We will cer­ ■ Credit for the heroic defense of Los can serve as a model. Homes were tainly “remember Los Alamos!” so numerous in the area’s wild-

BURNED-AREA EMERGENCY REHABILITATION

Postfire rehabilitation can Fire near Los Alamos, NM, was • Built terraces and erected silt reduce hazards such as falling the largest BAER effort in the fences; snags and prevent property history of the Nation. The team • Improved or removed culverts to damage and resource degrada­ included dozens of representa­ manage waterflow (tasks per­ tion through flooding and tives from Federal and State formed by the USACE and its erosion. After a major fire, a agencies throughout the West. contractors); and burned-area emergency Hundreds of volunteers turned • Filled more than 20,000 sand­ rehabilitation (BAER) team is out from Los Alamos, White bags to protect against flooding, formed to assess fire damage Rock, and other towns across especially in and around White and to implement a rehabili­ New Mexico to join in rehabili­ Rock. tation plan. BAER teams tation efforts by type 2 fire­ include specialists from many fighters and contract workers In some areas, the fire’s intense disciplines, such as biology, for the U.S. Army Corps of heat had left soils coated with waxy archeology, ecology, and Engineers (USACE). The BAER residues that diminish water geology. The teams organize team: absorption. Such “hydrophobic volunteers to implement the soils” are especially prone to rehabilitation plans. • Obliterated firelines and erosion. Rehabilitation workers removed hazards; raked more than 500 areas with The Cerro Grande BAER • Protected cultural and re­ hydrophobic soils to improve their Team, formed in May 2000 source heritage sites; ability to soak up water. following the Cerro Grande • Spread straw and seeded burned areas with grass;

14 Fire Management Today WILDLAND FIRE MANAGEMENT IN THE 20TH CENTURY

Gerald W. Williams

onditions on many of our Nation’s forests today are The forest health crisis has roots C critical. Some 24 million acres more than 150 years old, of forestland in the interior West when American Indians were removed from the are exposed to a high risk of fire (Dombeck 2000). Large wildland land and their wildland burning ceased. fires are again on the rise (Pyne 1997), often with devastating consequences for lives, property, The aboriginal understanding that Light Burning and ecosystem health. humans could influence ecosys­ Controversy tems through the use of fire was all In the 1890’s, when the first forest Roots of the Crisis but lost when Europeans settled in reserves were established, the early The forest health crisis has roots North America. The white settlers conservation movement (including more than 150 years old, when came to believe that fire, both scientific forestry) was in its hey­ American Indians were removed natural and Indian-set, could and day. Foresters such as Gifford from the land and their wildland should be controlled to prevent Pinchot, first Chief of the USDA burning ceased. For thousands of what they saw as the destruction of Forest Service, shared the view years, the Indians had used what forests and grasslands. “While the that fire was the bane of the today we would call prescribed fire destructive, potentially deadly side forests. Wildland fires, they be­ to increase wildland resources of fire was obvious and immedi­ lieved, had to be eliminated in such as game. Experiments have ate,” Federal policymakers noted order for the forests to grow and shown that burning can increase (Federal Wildland Policy 1995), thrive. Fires not only destroyed the game by promoting browse. “the changes and risks resulting standing trees, but also burned the Almost 20 years ago, for example, from these fire exclusion efforts fragile seedlings and young trees an experiment in California were difficult to recognize and springing forth for the next forest (Heizer and Elsasser 1980) showed mounted slowly and inconspicu­ generation. Fire was the moral and that deer counts rose from 30 per ously over many decades.” mortal enemy of the forests square mile (18 per km2) in dense, (Saveland 1995; Schiff 1962). unburned chaparral to 98 per square mile (60 per km2) after the first year of burning. After a second year of burning, the deer count Old redwood (Sequioa semper­ rose to 131 per square mile (81 per virens) forest in California, km2), then dropped to 84 per converted to pasture through 2 logging and repeated burning, square mile (52 per km ) after the 1903. “Cut-and-run” logging, fifth and sixth years. Testimony often followed by heavy slash from Indians shows that they knew fires, devastated America’s forests and galvanized public very well that burning off the support for a National Forest chaparral at certain intervals System to protect remaining would increase the deer supply. wildlands. Photo: Courtesy of National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Forest Jerry Williams is a historical analyst for Service Photograph Collec­ the USDA Forest Service, Washington tion, Beltsville, MD (A. Gaskill, Office, Washington, DC. 1903; 48696).

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 15 After the Forest Service’s Mather Field Conference Some settlers, especially in the in 1921, protectionist policies triumphed, American West and South, had adopted Indian burning tech­ and concerted efforts began to stop niques. In the late 1800’s and early all fires in the forests. 1900’s, such practices were known as “light burning” (sometimes derided as “Paiute forestry”). Forestry professionals considered FIRE EXCLUSION WAS A PRIORITY FOR THE light burning very destructive for EARLY FOREST SERVICE young trees in some species, but beneficial to others. The Forest Henry Graves and William B. Greeley (second and third Chiefs of Service experimented with light the Forest Service, respectively) firmly believed that stopping burning in the late 1910’s and wildland fires was the key to forest health. In 1913, Chief Graves concluded that it was dangerous declared that “the necessity of preventing losses from forest fires (Graves 1920; Greeley 1920; requires no discussion. It is the fundamental obligation of the Olmsted 1911; Roth 1920; Schiff Forest Service and takes precedence over all other duties and 1962). Light burners were soon activities” (Saveland 1995). Chief Greeley’s autobiography begins effectively stopped, although it with recollections of the great 1910 fires, which burned some 3 took much longer to discourage million acres (1.2 million ha) in the northern Rocky Mountains and light burning in the South and were a formative experience for many early foresters. “Fire preven­ among American Indians (see the tion is the No. 1 job of American foresters,” he declared, and “smoke sidebar on page 17). in the woods” should be the yardstick of progress in American forestry (Saveland 1995). In 1921, Chief William B. Greeley arranged the first national confer­ ence on the subject of fire, the Mather Field Conference. Contro­ versy had been raging for years between the proponents of light burning and the advocates of fire control. After the Mather Field Conference, as Jim Saveland (1995) put it, “the protectionist policies formulated by Coert duBois, Stuart Show, and E.I. Kotok became dominant.” Fire control triumphed, and concerted efforts began to stop all fires in the forests (Pyne 1982).

But doubts lingered. As early as the 1930’s, the Forest Service came to realize that in certain ecosystems fire was actually beneficial. “It has been a surprise and shock to many,” wrote V.L. Harper (1937), “to learn that the whole South Results of experimental burning in the 1930’s. The entire area was planted with seeds does not fall nicely into a simple from slash pine (Pinus elliottii) in 1930. The plot in the foreground was burned every year, national pattern in which the whereas the plot in the background was protected from fire. The results in 1939 seem to show that burning is bad for pine regeneration. Until the 1960’s, the Forest Service drew policy of complete fire exclusion on such experiments to justify its policy of systematic fire control. Photo: Courtesy of uniformly applies. During the last National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Forest Service Photograph Collection, few years there have been loud and Beltsville, MD (Clint Davis, 1939; 414238).

16 Fire Management Today indignant protests from some The Civilian Conservation Corps made a quarters of the longleaf pine [Pinus big difference in the Forest Service’s ability to palustris] belt against fervent, emotional fire-prevention propa­ reduce fire losses and put out fires on Federal, ganda.” In 1932, Forest Service State, and private lands. Chief Robert Y. Stuart issued a policy statement (“Federal Policy Relating to Controlled Burning in YOUR MISSION: STOP THE INDIANS Cooperative Fire Protection in the Longleaf Pine Region”) acknowl­ FROM BURNING edging the use of controlled burning in longleaf pine forest. Early foresters struggled for years to convince American Indians to stop their seasonal wildland burning, a traditional practice based on millennia of experience showing that controlled burning enhanced In fact, support for prescribed fire wildland resources such as game. In 1918, a district ranger on the remained strong enough that V.L. Klamath National Forest, CA, in a letter to his forest supervisor Harper (1937) thought the Forest (Harley 1918), suggested using missionary assistance to keep the Service faced a policy choice. Indians from burning: “There seem to be two different forms that a fire policy might There is this lady here, Mrs. Watkins, who has been here over a year take,” he observed. “1. Should fire doing general missionary work amongst the indians....My scheme is exclusion be the public policy with as follows—Let the [Forest] service hire this woman to work fire used only sparingly, if at all? 2. amongst the indians on a general educational basis….[H]er duties Should controlled burning be would be to travel up and down the river between Orleans and recognized in the public policy?” Elliots, stopping at different indian houses, talking to them in Until the 1960’s, the Forest Service regards to their own welfare, but the principal point to impress on them would be the fire question. This woman can do more in one and other land management season towards causing the indians to adopt our theories in regards agencies almost exclusively chose to fire than we can do in five. the first alternative. Wildland fire management nationwide focused primarily on the swift and com­ plete suppression of all wildland fires, and controlled burning was prohibited everywhere except in parts of the South. Fire Protection Organization From the 1890’s to the 1930’s, wildland firefighting by Federal forest rangers was minimally effective at best. Federal firefighters often limited their activities to extinguishing spot fires, fighting parts of large fires whenever safety seemed to permit, or “herding” fires until rains or snow put them out. Additional help, if any, came from nearby communities and farms, some­ Prescribed burning in a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest in Florida, 1954. Despite the times from cities. Training was triumph of fire exclusion over light burning, prescribed fires continued on the Coastal Plain in the South to reduce hazardous fuels and eliminate competing hardwoods from reserved for the handful of Forest open pine forests. Photo: Courtesy of National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Service fire professionals. The Forest Service Photograph Collection, Beltsville, MD (Daniel Todd, 1954; 476378).

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 17 professional force was small, and there was no money to employ, let alone train, hundreds or thousands of auxiliary firefighters to fight the larger fires.

In 1933, with the advent of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), thousands of young men were trained in firefighting techniques, then placed on firelines when needed. The CCC made a big difference in the Forest Service’s ability to reduce fire losses and put out fires on Federal, State, and private lands. From this time on, the Nation fielded enough trained firefighters to control most wild- land fires.

During World War II, wildland fires A crew from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) digging a fireline on the 1937 were projected as the enemy in Deadwood Creek Fire, Challis National Forest, ID. Fire crews from the CCC finally gave the Forest Service the ability to control most wildland fires. Photo: Courtesy of National ways similar to the war propaganda Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Forest Service Photograph Collection, Beltsville, directed against the Germans and MD (W.H. Shaffer, 1937; 354025). Japanese. Before the end of the war, Smokey Bear came to symbol­ ize the national campaign against forest fires. In 1950, a real bear was located to represent Smokey; he Wartime poster against careless fire was placed in the National Zoo in use, 1942–45. Before Washington, DC. One of the most Smokey Bear, the widely recognized images in the Forest Service used various images to media today, Smokey has influ­ promote wildland fire enced millions of young people prevention, including through his famous slogan, “Only some that today would You Can Prevent Forest Fires” be rejected as ethni­ cally offensive. (Chase 1995; Lawter 1994; Lewis Illustration: USDA 1973; Morrison 1976; Robbins Forest Service, 1985). Unfortunately, Smokey Washington, DC. became associated in the mind of the public with the 50-year legacy of fire control. “Ingrained with the Smokey Bear mantra that ‘only you can prevent forest fires,’” noted George Wuerthner (1995), “most people view fire as a destruc­ tive force that must be contained and suppressed.”

Today, wildland firefighting is almost a full-time occupation. Firefighting on the Nation’s

18 Fire Management Today wildlands involves highly coordi­ BENEFITS FROM FIRE USE nated efforts among many part­ ners, including the Forest Service; Ffolliott et al. (1996) and Wuerthner (1995) have documented the USDI Bureau of Land Manage­ ecological and other benefits from fire use. Under the right ment, National Park Service, and conditions, fire can beneficially be used to: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Indian tribes; State forestry • Reduce ground fuel loading, departments; and local firefighting • Dispose of slash, organizations (Haglund 1998). • Prepare for replanting (by reducing leaf litter, slash, and downed When professional firefighting woody material), forces are stretched thin (for • Thin overstocked, stagnated, diseased, or insect-infested forest example, during the 1988 Yellow­ stands, stone Fires), troops from the • Increase plant growth (by reducing soil pathogens, recycling National Guard and U.S. Army are nutrients, changing hydrology, and releasing roots and foliage called on to help. from competition), • Improve wildlife and fish habitat, Wildland firefighting can be very • Keep a forest open and parklike, and dangerous. On July 6, 1994, 14 • Protect people and property from catastrophic wildland fires. firefighters perished on Storm King Mountain near Glenwood Springs, CO, when a fast-moving fire caught them on a mountain­ side (South Canyon Fire Accident Investigation Team 1994). Hazards for firefighters increase when Prescribed burn in excess fuels litter the forest floor April 1994 on the or when shrubs and small trees Boise National form “ladders” for fires to climb to Forest, ID. Wildland managers the tops of the tallest trees, killing today are increas­ the forest and savaging its soils for ingly using fire for decades to come. healthier ecosys­ tems. Photo: Karen Wattenmaker, Reintroducing Fire USDA Forest Service, Boise Land managers today are begin­ National Forest, ning to realize the value of fire in Boise, ID, 1994. maintaining healthy forests (see sidebar). In the 1960’s and 1970’s, a sea change occurred: After more than half a century of vilifying wildland fire, the Federal agencies formally adopted the notion that not all fire is “bad” and that there was even a need to burn (Pyne 1982; Saveland 1995; Schiff 1962; Tall Timbers Research Station 1998). Prescribed fire had long been widely used to prepare areas for planting after timber harvest, but the purposeful introduction of fire into standing forests was new, except in the South.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 19 Today, the Nation’s wildland managers, with signs of strong support from portions of the public, are beginning to understand the role played by fire in sustaining healthy wildlands.

In the Federal Wildland Fire Dombeck, M. 2000. The state of the Olmsted, F.E. 1911. Fire and the forest: Management Policy adopted in forest—Extending our land ethic. The theory of light burning. Sierra Club Speech by Forest Service Chief on Bulletin. 8: 43–47. 1995, fire use plays a central role March 27. Pyne, S.J. 1982. Fire in America: A cultural in restoring our forests to health Federal Wildland Policy. 1995. Federal history of wildland and rural fire. (Federal Wildland Policy 1995). As wildland policy, role of fire. Staff report Princeton, NJ: Princeton University dated December 18, 1995. Signed by Press. Federal policymakers declared, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman Pyne, S.J. 1997. America’s fires: Manage­ “Wildland fire will be used to and Secretary of the Interior Bruce ment on wildlands and forests. Durham, protect, maintain, and enhance Babbitt. Washington, DC: USDA, USDI. NC: Forest History Society. Ffolliott, P.F.; Cabrera, L.A.; Guido, C.M. Robbins, W.G. 1985. American forestry: A resources and, as nearly as pos­ 1996. Use of fire in the future: Benefits, history of national, state, and private sible, be allowed to function in its concerns, constraints. In: Ffolliott, P.F., cooperation. Lincoln, NE: University of natural ecological role.” But et al., tech. coords. Effects of Fire on Nebraska Press. resistance to change remains. Even Madrean Province Ecosystems: A Roth, F. 1920. Another word on light Symposium Proceedings; 11–15 March burning. American Forestry. 26: 548. today, when most ecologists 1986; Tucson, AZ. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM– Saveland, J. 1995. Fire in the forest. In: acknowledge the need to use 289. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Eskew, L.G., compiler. Forest Health Indian-type fires to restore a Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Through Silviculture: Proceedings of Range Experiment Station: 217–222. the 1995 National Silviculture Work­ wildland mosaic of forest and Graves, H.S. 1920. The Forest Service and shop; 8–11 May 1995; Mescalero, NM.. grassland at various successional light-burning experiments. American Gen. Tech. Rep. RM–267. Fort Collins, stages, the practice remains Lumberman. 2337(February 28): 76–77. CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Greeley, W.B. 1920. Piute [Paiute] forestry Mountain Forest and Range Experiment controversial, especially among or the fallacy of light burning. Station: 14–19. fire control professionals (Williams Timberman. 21(March): 38–39. Schiff, A.L. 1962. Fire and water: Scientific 2000). Haglund, S. 1998. Indian country on the heresy in the Forest Service. Cambridge, forefront in new approaches to wildland MA: Harvard University Press. fire. Evergreen. 9(19): 44. South Canyon Fire Accident Investigation However, the Nation’s wildland Harley, F.W. 1918. Letter to the supervisor Team. 1994. South Canyon [Storm managers, with signs of strong of the Klamath National Forest, Yreka, King] Fire Investigation of the 14 support from portions of the CA, January 30. fatalities that occurred on July 6, 1994 Harper, V.L. 1937. Fire research in the near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. public, are beginning to under­ lower South. Fire Control Notes. 1(Aug. Washington, DC: USDI Bureau of Land stand the role played by fire in 9): 229–237. Management, USDA Forest Service, and sustaining healthy wildlands. Heizer, R.F.; Elsasser, A.B. 1980. The USDC National Oceanic and Atmo­ natural world of the California Indians. spheric Administration. “When Nat Stephenson, an ecolo­ Berkeley, CA: University of California Tall Timbers Research Station. 1998. Fire gist with the National Biological Press. in ecosystem management: Shifting the Service working in the Sierra Lawter Jr., W.C. 1994. Smokey Bear 20252: paradigm from suppression to prescrip­ Nevada forest of California, sees A biography. Alexandria, VA: Lindsay tion. Proceedings of the 20th Tall Smith Publishers. Timbers Fire Ecology Conference; 7–10 the charred boles and snags of Lewis, H.T. 1973. Patterns of Indian May 1996, Boise, ID. Tallahassee, FL: burnt trees, he smiles,” observed burning in California: Ecology and Tall Timbers Research Station. George Wuerthner (1995). “He ethnohistory. Bean, L.J., ed. Ballena Williams, G.W. 2000. Reintroducing Anthrop. Pap. 1. Ramona, CA: Ballena Indian-type fire. Fire Management takes it as ‘a sign that ecosystem Press. [Reprinted in: Blackburn, T.C.; Today. 60(3): XX–XX. processes are going along as they Anderson, K., eds. 1993. Before the Wuerthner, G. 1995. Fire power: After have in the past.’” wilderness: Environmental management years of suppressing forest fires, the by Native Californians. Menlo Park, CA: Park Service is realizing its policy does Ballena Press: 55–116.] not necessarily benefit ecosystems that Literature Cited Morrison, E.E. 1976. Guardian of the depend on intense blazes for regenera­ ■ Chase, A. 1995. In a Dark Wood: The Fight forest: A history of the Smokey Bear tion. National Parks. 69 (5–6): 32–37. Over Forests and the Rising Tyranny of program. New York, NY: Vantage Press. Ecology. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company

20 Fire Management Today “PAIUTE FORESTRY” OR THE FALLACY OF LIGHT BURNING*

William B. Greeley

Editor’s note: This article contributed to a controversy in the early 20th century between advocates of fire exclusion and proponents of “light burning,” the use of low-intensity fire for fuels reduction and other purposes (for a defense of light burning, see the article by L.E. Wilkes on page 27). By deriding light burning as “Paiute forestry,” Greeley disparages its folklore basis in wildland burning practices adopted from the American Indians. Greeley’s views prevailed; until the 1960’s, the USDA Forest Service worked to exclude fire from most of the Nation’s wildlands. In 1978, recognizing that many ecosystems require frequent fire to thrive, the Forest Service formally abandoned the policy of fire exclusion in favor of using a mix of techniques, including prescribed fire, to protect lives, property, and wildland resources.

or nearly 20 years a drive has been made in the western The protection of our western forests from fire F states to put an end to the is one of the finest accomplishments in forestry destruction of forests by fire. This yet witnessed in the United States. effort has been backed by many timber owners and by state and municipal agencies with a fine western states has been successful. management for 200 years. We can spirit of co-operation. From year Millions of acres of both private expect no less in the inaccessible to year it has received more and public forests have been and thinly populated portions of widespread support in public efficiently protected. Thousands of our western states, which are sentiment. small fires have been put out exposed to climatic fire hazards as before doing serious damage. Many extreme as exist perhaps in any The goal of this effort has been to thousands more have been pre­ portion of the world. To condemn keep fires out of the forest. It has vented through law enforcement the methods of protecting the sought to make the woods as and the educational campaign western forests because they have fireproof as practicable through which has enlisted the support of not prevented all fires would be as the disposal of slashings; to reduce the hunter, the camper, the logger, sensible as to condemn the fire- the number of man-caused fires by the railroad operator, the herds­ prevention work of our large cities state control of the use of fire and man and the settler. The effort has because of the occasional Balti­ by creating a public sentiment not prevented all forest conflagra­ more, San Francisco or Chelsea wide awake at all times to keep fire tions in seasons or localities of fire. The protection of our western out of the woods; to detect small extreme drought. It has not yet forests from fire, in which work fires quickly by patrols and lookout solved certain problems in protect­ timber owners and associations stations; and to put fires out by the ing forests which are still inacces­ have taken a leading part, is one of systematic organization of all the sible stretches of wilderness or the finest accomplishments in forces available in an emergency. which are still undermanned or forestry yet witnessed in the United which are subject to exceptional States. One of its best features is In a large measure the effort to hazards by reason of local climate that it has been brought about stop destructive forest fires in the or local social and industrial largely by the people of the west­ conditions. ern states themselves, and that its When he wrote this article, William Greeley was an assistant forester for the greatest asset today lies in the USDA Forest Service, Washington Office, Bad fires still occur in European public sentiment of the West to Washington, DC. He went on to serve as forests which have been under keep fires out of the woods. Forest Service Chief from 1920 to 1928. systematic protection and

* This article first appeared in the March 1920 issue of The Timberman.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 21 him that this was the way to prevent the “big” forest fire. Their scheme means nothing more or less than a continuation of the frequent ground fire which, whether started by Indians or by lighting, swept over many of our western pineries at frequent inter­ vals prior to the coming of the whites and which was continued by the early hunters, prospectors, herdsmen and settlers. Fire Conditions Ignored The light burners proposed to “control” the destructiveness of Burned and reburned area of coniferous forest in Washington, 1892. Such scenes appalled the deliberate firing by burning the early American conservationists and inspired the leaders of the USDA Forest Service to woods in the spring or fall when pursue systematic fire exclusion. Photo: Courtesy of National Agricultural Library, sufficiently moist to prevent the Special Collections, Forest Service Photograph Collection, Beltsville, MD (C.A. Mosier, 1892; 22063). fire from seriously injuring either old timber or young trees. A care­ What the Forest young trees will not be seriously ful study of the area where this Burners Preach injured; and the whole thing is to system has been intentionally practiced shows that such control It would seem unnecessary to cost but a fraction of a cent per acre. This system is advocated by amounts to little or nothing. The uphold the protection of our light burners ignore certain basic western forests as a work com­ the Southern Pacific Railroad, which, because of its enormous facts about fire conditions in our manding the support of every western pineries. They ignore the forester and timber owner in the federal land grants, is one of the two or three largest timber land rapidity with which evaporation United States, but a propaganda is under intense sunlight in warm now being preached which subtly owners in the United States. It is supported by other large timber- weather dries up the litter in the strikes at the very roots of it. The pine woods. A south slope will be advocates of light burning, or owning corporations, particularly in California. Light burning has so dry as to make any fire exceed­ “Paiute forestry,” assert that fire ingly hot and destructive before a should not be kept out of the pine been preached in articles appear­ ing in American Forestry and in north slope will burn at all. Areas forests, by all odds the most which will burn but lightly and extensive in our western states. various lumber journals. It is, in fact, a substitute offered to the irregularly early in the morning Instead of keeping fire out of the will flare up and consume in the western pineries, the advocates of people of the western states for the present system of forest protection most approved fashion by mid- this system propose to burn them afternoon. The moisture following regularly every few years. They which has hitherto made such splendid headway. light spring or fall rains often claim that a succession of light disappears so rapidly that the fires will keep these forests clean of period of “safe” burning is a matter inflammable material without The light burners claim that their scheme was practiced by the of hours, not of days. Actually to injury to the merchantable stump­ burn the western pineries, as the age. The frequent burning up of Indians in various western pine forests long before the advent of advocates of this theory propose to small growth, underbrush and burn them, would, if it could be litter supposedly would thus the white man, asserting that the noble redskin fired the forests done at all, entail a cost for effec­ protect the woods from serious tive control many times greater conflagrations. It is even claimed regularly, not so much to facilitate his hunting or protect his dwelling than the cost of an efficient system that pine forests protected by this of fire detection and suppression. system will not burn, that their as because his nature lore taught

22 Fire Management Today Light burning, in actual practice, If surface burning is not stopped, is simply the old ground fire which the end is total destruction just as complete and has been the scourge of the west­ ern pineries, under a new name. disastrous as when a forest is consumed in a Its use means a deliberate continu­ crown blaze that kills everything at once. ation of the destructive surface fires which were steadily and irresistibly eating up the pine timbered. These brush patches fire, the third or fourth fire com­ forests of our western states until cover nearly 14 percent of the pletes the job. It is absolutely they were placed under protection. timber belt in the National Forests impossible to ground burn large In every western state without of that state. That they were once areas repeatedly and save any exception, the pine forests have pine forests is fully attested by the young growth on them. The actual been thinned out, cut down in occasional snag or half dead tree fires of the light burner prove this, area, replaced here and there by still left standing, by the charred whatever he may claim. As a mat­ brush or grass land, have often stumps, by tree roots half rotted in ter of fact the light burner does not become diseased, and have lost the ground. Those brush patches want young growth. It is part of much of the young growth which represent a loss to the forest the inflammable debris which he normally they should contain, as resources of California today would get out of the forest as to the result of fire. This has not been which we can safely put at 37 render a “serious” conflagration brought about by a few large billion [board] feet of standing impossible. When the mature conflagrations. It is the cumulative timber, with a value of probably timber in a light-burned forest is result of one fire after another $75,000,000; and that loss will go cut, the forest is at an end. Its extending over a period of 50–100 steadily on if light burning of the productivity ceases. It becomes a years. Every time a fire runs over pine forests is permitted. In many brush patch. these areas a few more old trees other pine areas the stand of are hollowed out at the base so timber is not only much less than Light Burning Must that the next high wind topples it should be because of frequent Be Repeated them over, a few more fine logs surface fires but has been reduced This is the real issue which has become infected with rot through in volume and quality by disease been raised by the advocacy of surface scars, and more of the which follows in the train of the light burning. The best that can be young growth by which nature fire. Incense cedar is one of the said for the system is that it is a constantly seeks to recover lost important trees in the California means for protecting mature ground is crowded out by brush. pine forests, but its timber is so timber, although at considerable If surface burning is not stopped, defective that the lumberman has loss in the stumpage projected, the end is total destruction, a often been unable to log it at all. supposedly more cheaply than by destruction which, though less An intensive study of sample areas an efficient system of detecting and spectacular, is just as complete and has shown that 84 percent of the putting out fires. Experience has disastrous as when a forest is rot in incense cedar is traceable shown that to protect the mature consumed in a crown blaze that directly to fire scars. A large timber, light burning must be kills everything at once. proportion of the loss in volume repeated regularly at least every and quality of pine stumpage, three or four years. At every burn­ Some Forests Totally which is a normal thing in practi­ ing a lot of brush and young trees Destroyed cally all western pine camps is due are killed but remain on the The total destruction of pine to the same cause. ground, furnishing the most forests has actually been caused by inflammable of fire food. They repeated firing in many parts of Aside from the gradual wiping out must be removed by a later burn­ the West. The National Forests of of the mature timber in these ing, which in turn leaves a certain California alone, where light virgin forests, the system of amount of dead and inflammable burning is most strenuously ground burning effectively cleans material in its wake. The accumu­ advocated, contain nearly two them of young tree growth. If all of lation of litter from the needles million acres of pure brush patches the seedlings and saplings are not and twigs of old trees, in itself, which formerly were heavily destroyed in the first or second destroys the protective value of a

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 23 If the only solution lies in the uninterrupted destruction of young growth by light burning, we had better harvest our mature stumpage without more ado and then become a wood-importing nation. light fire in three or four years. To cheapen the protection and utiliza­ adjoining stumpage but also to carry out this theory of protecting tion of old timber, it deliberately protect young growth existing on old timber, the ground must be transforms the forest into a brush the cut-over land. It may even be burned again and again and again. patch. wise to burn up some of the It is preposterous to assert that existing young growth in order to young trees can survive this The issue raised by light burning is clean up the slashings and give the process. not what its advocates claim—the area greater safety from future utilization of fire properly con­ fires. In Douglas fir areas in the In other words, let us recognize trolled as a means of forest protec­ Cascade range, where the new frankly that light burning is tion. Everyone recognizes the forest must be grown from seed in simply part of the game of timber utility of fire if properly controlled. the ground, it is good forestry to mining. To the gutting of heavy The burning of slashings on cut- burn an entire cut-over area cutting it adds the gutting of total over land is often essential not cleanly under careful control. In destruction to young growth. To only to eliminate a menace to most of our spruce, balsam and

Conversion of ponderosa pine forest to brushfields. The 1931 Quartzburg Fire on Idaho’s Boise National Forest was so intense that it killed the pines in the draw near Grimes Creek (left). By 1950, in the absence of pine regeneration, brush covered the site (right). Until the 1960’s, the Forest Service used such before-and-after photos to justify a policy of systematic fire exclusion. Ironically, fire exclusion exacerbated the problem by allowing fuels to build up, feeding abnormally intense fires that could eliminate forest cover for generations. Photos: Courtesy of National Agricultural Library, Special Collections, Forest Service Photograph Collection, Beltsville, MD (left—G.W. Craddock, 1931, 263934; right—G.W. Craddock, 1950, 463327).

24 Fire Management Today Aside from the gradual wiping out of the mature timber in these virgin forests, the system of ground burning effectively cleans them of young tree growth. hardwood forests, part or all of the built up with so much effort is increased several times over what new timber growth is or should be unnecessary; that all we need to do it was during the days of periodic on the ground at the time of with our western pine forests is to fire. Not only is the merchantable cutting. If the land is not to be “touch ‘em off.” The plausible stumpage fully protected but the denuded and its productivity arguments advanced in advocacy of growth needed to supply our brought to an end, that young light burning make this proposal future requirements is now taking growth must be preserved as far as exceptionally dangerous. It weak­ place. possible and the firing must be ens the confidence of the general done so as to preserve it. public in real fire protection. It We can have real forests, full of weakens the support given by growth and promise for the future, The issue raised by light burning is timber land owners to organized in our pineries generally if all rather whether or not our forest protective efforts such as state and interests get behind a real program protection in the West is to be the federal agencies and many associa­ of fire protection. This means a kind of protection which conserves tions have been successful in harder and more united effort by and promotes tree growth, or bringing about. It tends to block all agencies, public and private. It whether it is to be simply an progressive fire legislation in the means progressive state legislation adjunct of timber mining. It is for western states. It tends to encour­ which will require the disposal of this reason that I stated with age incendiary fires by the settler, slashings on cut-over lands and conviction at the beginning of this prospector or stock grower who enlist all forest owners in orga­ article that light burning strikes at has reasons of his own for wishing nized fire prevention. We should the roots of our forest protection to clear the woods. It is a direct also have federal legislation which effort in the western states. The challenge to a national policy of will give the Forest Service much people living in and near the forestry for it strikes unmistakably greater resources for co-operating western pineries have been taught at the effort to keep timber lands with local agencies in fire to believe that fire must be kept productive rather than permit protection. out of the woods. To a surprising them to become waste. degree they have recognized the Fire Protection truth of that slogan. They have It goes without saying that we all Wanted supported state legislation and recognize the difficulty in protect­ Doubtless we cannot absolutely private associations based upon ing the western forests efficiently prevent the occasional destructive that principle. They have come to from fire. If the only solution lies forest fire any more than it has believe that fire and forest growth in the uninterrupted destruction of been possible to prevent it in the do not go together. Their support young growth by light burning, we European forests. A considerable of a genuine system of forest had better harvest our mature portion of southern Europe has a protection has been not only to stumpage without more ado and fire problem analogous to that in save their virgin stumpage but also then become a wood-importing the western United States. This to perpetuate their vast pineries nation. But that is not the solu­ protection problem has not been which mean so much to the tion. Billions of acres of National solved, as certain advocates of light economic future of the West. Forest pine lands demonstrate the burning assert, by the custom of results of 15 years of successful making fagots from limbs and Incendiarism Gets protection from ground fires. In twigs. Fagot making is a negligible Encouragement these forests the brush patches are factor in European fire protection Now comes an insidious doctrine disappearing in thickets of vigor­ for the same reasons that it would telling everyone that this system of ous pine reproduction. The actual be in the western United States, fire protection which has been growth of timber has been because it has such a relatively

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 25 small effect upon the actual HOW LETHAL IS FIRE TO PINES? inflammability of the forest. Fire protection has been brought about Former USDA Forest Service Chief William B. Greeley makes an in southern Europe by the same articulate case that frequent low-intensity fire in pine destroys methods through which it must be mature timber and prevents regeneration. However, in the past 80 brought about in the western years we have learned that many pines evolved with and depend on United States, by an organized recurring fire. Based on the Forest Service’s Fire Effects Information system of detection and suppres­ System (on the Forest Service Website at ), the following paragraphs summarize aspects of fire intensive use of the forests are the ecology in two important pine species of the interior West—ponde­ principal factors. And still south­ rosa pine and lodgepole pine. ern Europe has its occasional bad fires which are just as destructive Ponderosa Pine as any that have occurred in the Interior ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var. scopulorum) depends western pineries. on frequent surface fires to maintain stand health and stability. Fire intervals under natural fire regimes vary from 2 years to about 25 We can, as in Europe reduce the years, depending on site conditions and geographic area. destructive fires to a negligible average or aggregate loss if our Thick, exfoliating bark and a deep rooting habit make large trees efforts are concentrated upon a tolerant of most surface fires. Mature trees tend to self-prune lower branches, thereby reducing the potential for fire to climb into genuine system of fire protection. crowns. Trees burned during the dormant season are often able to The only kind of protection which survive extensive crown scorch damage because buds are large and this system must admit is one enclosed within thin, insulating scales. which promotes the productivity of our forest lands in the long run. In Ponderosa pine communities often have a grass layer that readily building up this kind of forest ignites. Frequent low-intensity fires are beneficial because they protection, the public has the right create a favorable seedbed by exposing bare mineral soil and remov­ to expect the co-operation of the ing competing vegetation. Fire also opens the stand structure, large western timber owners who removing potential ladder fuels. However, postburn establishment is have acquired enormous holdings successful only when a good seed crop coincides with above-average under the liberal policy of the rainfall. government in disposing of its public domain, and particularly of Lodgepole Pine the large railroad companies Rocky Mountain lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) is whose enormous grants of public adapted to various fire regimes. Depending on site conditions and timber land should be regarded as geographic area, natural fire intervals include low- to mid-severity a public trust. fires that occur every 25 to 50 years, and high-severity, stand-replac­ ing fires that occur every 250 to 300 years. We should no more permit an essentially destructive theory, like Lodgepole pine has thin bark with poor insulating properties, so that of light burning, to nullify our many trees are killed by surface fires. However, low-intensity fires generally thin rather than destroy lodgepole pine stands, releasing efforts at real forest protection surviving trees from competition and promoting growth. than we would permit the adver­ tisement of sure cures for tubercu­ After stand-replacing fires, recovery tends to be rapid as new trees losis to do away with the sanitary establish from seed released by serotinous cones (cones that remain regulations of cities, the tuberculo­ closed until opened by fire). Serotinous cones store up to 10 years of sis sanitaria, fresh air for patients, annual seed production, blanketing the exposed forest floor within 3 and the other means employed by years after a major fire. Most lodgepole pine stands also have cones medical and hygienic science for that release seeds without extreme heat, allowing for rapid regenera­ combatting the white plague. ■ tion when surface fires expose mineral soil. Lodgepole pine produces seed at an early age, so postfire seedlings contribute to seedfall within about 10 years.

26 Fire Management Today PRESERVATION OF FORESTS: JUDICIOUS FIRING OF DEBRIS IN WET AUTUMN IS URGED *

L.E. Wilkes

Editor’s note: This article makes part of the case for “light burning,” the use of low-intensity fire for fuels reduc­ tion and other purposes (for the counterargument, see the article by William B. Greeley on page 21). Now known as prescribed fire use, light burning derived from folk practices adopted from wildland burning by the American Indians. Once widely accepted by the general public, light burning was fiercely contested by early conservation­ ists, who contended that it led to forest destruction. By the late 1920’s, their views had prevailed. Today, much of the public continues to regard all fire use with deep suspicion.

he question of the preservation of our forests, until they can be By firing extensively over tracts T turned into a merchantable where there is much offal, product, is one of vast importance not only the danger of fires can be averted, to our State [Oregon], therefore the following suggestions may be but much useless material be put out of the way. of interest, if not valuable, to those who have an interest in the matter. burned off the trees. Therefore, if seasons. We all know that fire will Fire for Fuels systematic work be done by firing not run without something to Management extensively over tracts where there burn, and in the forests the condi­ This season [autumn] offers an is much offal, not only the danger tions must all be favorable, and opportunity to employ what I deem of fires can be averted, but much even then it is comparatively the best means of preventing the useless material be put out of the seldom that it attacks and kills the ravages of forest fires. Much of the way. forest trees. The vast areas of debris on the ground in our forests “burnt woods” in this state may be would now burn, if properly fired, It may not be practicable to do this cited as evidence that my conclu­ and there is no danger of devastat­ firing over the whole of our large sion is not correct; but from ing fires getting started this fall. It forest areas, but there is no ques­ personal examination of a great is very seldom, if at all, that tion of its value or practicability deal of burnt timber in the Coast valuable timber is injured by fire, where the country is settled up. range of mountains, I am con­ except where there is a large Each farmer can render his prop­ vinced that the damage done by amount of dry, dead material on erty comparatively safe by destroy­ forest fires has been greatly the ground. This debris consists of ing the means by which fires from overestimated. the tops and broken trunks of a distance can be readily commu­ fallen trees, limbs broken off by nicated to his property. Of course, It must be remembered that trees snow and wind, the fallen leaves, this is no news to a large majority and forests grow old and eventually etc. These, when very dry, burn of the settlers on the timbered die from old age, if not otherwise. with great heat, and thus the fire is lands, but the laws are very strict A forest in which the majority of carried to the tree tops, where the on the matter of setting out fires. the trees are far past the prime of real damage is done. In timber, With this law or its intentions I life is far more liable to be ravaged forest fires do little or no damage have no fault to find, except that by fire than where they are in the so long as the leaves are not systematic firing, at the proper vigor of middle age. On most of the time, should be encouraged. This, burnt areas of this country the When he wrote this piece, L.E. Wilkes was if done, would render such laws forests had grown old and perhaps a private citizen living in Hillsboro, OR. useless, except, perhaps, in the were far on the down-hill side of very dryest days of the very dryest life. * This article appeared as a letter to the editor in The Oregonian on September 22, 1899.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 27 Inevitability of Fire where a small amount of the and between the two extremes lies If where those whitened trunks timber would have been cut. the true mean. It may be argued now stand there remained the that it is impracticable to burn out splendid forests as of old, it might I believe that the interests of the this debris as above indicated, but be many years yet before an ax or forests of this State would be every one knows that to prevent saw would touch them. Each year better protected if the officers now forest fires entirely is simply was bringing closer the time when in the field, instead of being impossible. Therefore it is in the fire was to do its work, and it provided with handcuffs and interest of all concerned to look for matters but little when it should weapons, were well supplied with some better means of protecting occur, except in a few instances, matches, to use and give away. Of this very important resource of course, this is the other extreme, western Oregon. ■

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28 Fire Management Today FRANKLIN AWARDS HONOR ACHIEVEMENTS IN STATE AND LOCAL COOPERATION

April J. Baily

nsuring that all citizens benefit is a critical part of the USDA The Franklin Awards recognize E Forest Service’s Cooperative outstanding efforts by State employees, units, Fire Protection programs. There­ or groups in fire protection outreach fore, it is vital to encourage increased interaction by our State to underserved communities. forestry fire service cooperators with underserved communities. VFA Award F&AM is pleased to announce that Franklin Awards Estab­ The Forest Service’s VFA program the 1999 Franklin Award for VFA lished is designed to help smaller com­ was presented to the State of munities improve (or begin) fire Arkansas Forestry Commission for With this goal in mind, José Cruz, protection. The Franklin Award for the strength and focus of the Director of the Forest Service’s VFA goes to the State that demon­ Commission’s work with rural Fire and Aviation Management strates the best outreach to help communities through its Rural (F&AM), has established four underserved communities improve Fire Protection Program. The annual awards to recognize out­ the fire protection they offer their program encourages and assists in standing efforts by State forestry people. the establishment, development, service employees, units, or groups and operation of fire protection in outreach to underserved com­ districts and associations in rural munities. Named for Benjamin areas that have little or no fire Franklin, the founder of the protection. Through the program, volunteer firefighting force, the the Arkansas Forestry Commis­ awards are for: sion:

• Volunteer fire assistance (VFA), • Publishes a comprehensive • State fire assistance (SFA), booklet that contains procedures • Assistance in transmitting and information critical to a Federal excess personal property fledgling fire department; (FEPP), and • Disseminates information at city • Overall service. council or community meetings and issues a monthly informa­ The 1999 awards were presented tional fax to the fire services on September 22, 1999, at the coordinator in every county, annual awards banquet for the telling about the program and National Association of State equipment available; Foresters in Harrisburg, PA. Harry • Has pioneered revolving loans Croft, Deputy Director of F&AM, for the purchase of new equip­ made the presentations. Each ment, providing more than awardee received an attractive $418,000 in interest-free loans in trophy bearing the likeness of 1998 alone; and Benjamin Franklin. • Uses two full-time trainers and a new interactive multimedia April Baily is the Federal Excess Personal Franklin Award trophy for outstanding Property program officer for the USDA achievements in fire protection outreach simulator to provide statewide Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Manage­ to underserved communities. Photo: Jan training in wildland fire suppres­ ment, Washington, DC; and the general Amen, Texas Forest Service, Lufkin, TX, sion. manager of Fire Management Today. 1999.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 29 THANKS TO Since 1979, rural Arkansas fire technical training, and equipment departments have increased in to ensure that Federal, State, and FRANKLIN number from 300 to more than local agencies can deliver a coordi­ AWARD 1,000, providing greatly improved nated response to wildland fire. UDGES fire protection to Arkansan homes, The Franklin Award for SFA goes J jobs, businesses, farms, and to the State that demonstrates the timberland. Thanks to grants and best use of SFA to help under- Nominations for the Franklin equipment from the Arkansas served people. Awards came for many Forestry Commission and other deserving parties. The Forest sources, most communities have F&AM is pleased to announce that Service assembled an excel­ reduced their insurance ratings the 1999 Franklin Award for SFA lent panel of judges, people (the basis for establishing the cost was presented to the Texas Forest committed to fairly applying of insurance policies, which Service for reducing losses to Texas Government assistance and depends partly on the quality of communities through its fire to providing fire protection fire protection available in the prevention efforts. On most to underserved communities. area), saving 22 to 30 percent on wildland fires, Texas relies on Panel members were: homeowners’ insurance. The real volunteer fire departments (VFD’s) savings, of course, are in lives not for initial attack and suppression. • Malcolm Gramley, coopera­ lost and homes and businesses not VFD’s in Texas serve some 1,800 tive fire operations officer, destroyed. communities with populations of Northeastern Area, Forest less than 10,000. In severe fire Service, Radnor, PA; SFA Award years, the financial and manpower • Judy Kissinger, public strain on VFD’s in underserved affairs specialist, Washing­ The Forest Service’s SFA program communities is tremendous. ton Office, Forest Service, provides financial assistance, Washington, DC; • Joan O’Hara Wehner (nonvoting), business manager, National Associa­ tion of State Foresters; Washington, DC; • Mary Owens, civil rights specialist, Washington Office, Forest Service, Washington, DC; • Craig Sharman, govern­ ment affairs representative, National Volunteer Fire Council, Washington, DC; and • Bill Webb, Executive Director, Congressional Fire Services Institute, Washington, DC.

The six judges each gave us a day of their time to examine the nominations and evalu­ ate their merits. Each John Shannon (left), State Forester, Arkansas Forestry Commission, admires the Franklin deserves sincere thanks. Award for Volunteer Fire Assistance presented to him by Harry Croft (right), Deputy Director, Fire and Aviation Management, USDA Forest Service. Photo: Alex Day, Pennsyl­ vania Department of Natural Resources, Spring Mills, PA, 1999.

30 Fire Management Today We gratefully acknowledge the outstanding efforts Fire Protection Program. The of all our State partners to ensure fire protection program screens and acquires trucks and other equipment for for all Americans. local fire departments. In the last 5 years, 948 vehicles—valued at more than $14 million—have been Lowering fire occurrences through FEPP Award acquired and placed with local prevention work not only reduces The Forest Service’s FEPP pro­ departments. Of these, 188 were the strain on overtaxed VFD’s, but gram helps State and local fire rebuilt into complete fire trucks by also saves precious natural re­ services obtain firefighting equip­ the State. In many instances, the sources. But when fire conditions ment that might otherwise be placing of this equipment has grow dangerous, few volunteer unaffordable. The Franklin Award provided the community with its firefighters can afford to take time for FEPP goes to the State that only fire equipment and has off from jobs for extended fire demonstrates the best outreach to allowed the formation of a VFD. prevention work. Also, dangerous help underserved communities fire conditions are typically re­ equip themselves for fire protec­ Director’s Award gional in nature, reducing the tion. The F&AM Director’s Franklin effectiveness of any single fire Award recognizes the best overall department in delivering the fire F&AM is pleased to announce that effort to assist underserved citizens prevention message. the 1999 Franklin Award for FEPP in fire protection, whether through was presented to the Arkansas the VFA, SFA, and/or FEPP In 1997, the Texas State Forester Forestry Commission for its Rural programs. approved a pilot project to reduce fire ignitions through an intensive regional fire prevention campaign, including the use of a cooperative wildland fire prevention/education team. The project’s success prompted additional prevention team mobilizations. Overall, the Texas Forest Service’s wildland fire prevention program has:

• Reduced the number of wildland fires and associated losses, • Educated millions of Texans statewide on the need for fire safety, • Increased news media coverage of fire danger and incorporation of fire safety messages, • Allowed small communities and VFD’s to focus their scarce resources on emergency re­ sponse and fire suppression, and • Increased interest nationwide in the mobilization and use of fire James B. Hull (left), State Forester, Texas Forest Service, receives the Director’s Franklin prevention teams. Award from Harry Croft (right), Deputy Director, Fire and Aviation Management, USDA Forest Service. Photo: Alex Day, Pennsylvania Department of Natural Resources, Spring Mills, PA, 1999.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 31 F&AM is pleased to announce • Distributed 611 pieces of VFA Nominations for that the coveted Director’s cost-share equipment, including Future Awards Franklin Award for 1999 was 30 trucks, 83 slip-on units, 13 F&AM congratulates our 1999 presented to the Texas Forest nationwide radio systems, and Franklin Award winners and Service’s Forest Resource Protec­ 485 dry hydrants; gratefully acknowledges the tion Department, Rural Fire • Established a program for using outstanding efforts of all our State Defense. The program’s guiding donated equipment from indus­ partners to ensure fire protection principles include placing top try, businesses, local govern­ for all Americans. Nominations for priority on volunteer firefighter ments, and State agencies to the Franklin Awards are due each safety, minimizing bureaucracy, equip VFD’s at no cost; year by May 31. For nomination maximizing local decisionmaking, • Warehoused personal protective forms and information on how to and establishing one-stop shopping equipment and wildland fire nominate units, groups, or indi­ for VFD’s. In more than living up equipment for sale to VFD’s, at a viduals, contact your regional to its own high principles, the cost savings averaging 40 per­ director for F&AM or write to Texas Forest Service has, in a 3­ cent; Director, Fire and Aviation Man­ year period: • Established a risk pool to provide agement, P.O. Box 96060, Wash­ liability insurance to VFD’s, ington, DC 20090-6090. The • Processed nearly 8,000 requests saving local fire departments an information is also available on the for assistance; average of 40 percent; and Forest Service F&AM Website at • Helped the FEPP program place • Provided emergency assistance . ■ 1,800 other items with VFD’s at is damaged or destroyed, or no cost to them; when their area of protection outgrows their ability to provide protection.

WEBSITES ON FIRE* Wildland Fire Aviation Aviation Safety For information on wildland fire aviation, a good This Website maintained by the USDA Forest place to start is the Websites maintained by the Service’s Fire and Aviation Management Staff USDA Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Manage­ focuses on aviation safety. It contains a list of Forest ment Staff. The Wildland Fire Aviation Website is Service aviation offices and staffs by region, as well full of operational information, mostly related to as a staff directory. A useful feature is the library of fixed-wing aircraft. The Website contains such publications and videotapes, which contains a helpful features as airtanker startup and cutoff glossary of special aviation terms. There are sepa­ times, aircraft descriptions and locations, and rate Webpages for tracking safety concerns and aircraft identification guides. It also contains a draft aviation mishaps, as well as for training materials interagency airtanker base operations guide and an and schedules. A news page offers information on online version of Bear Air, the Forest Service journal recent accidents and safety alerts, and there are on wildland fire aviation. links to related Government and aviation Websites. Found at Found at

* Occasionally, Fire Management Today briefly describes Websites brought to our attention by the wildland fire community. Readers should not construe the description of these sites as in any way exhaustive or as an official endorsement by the USDA Forest Service. To have a Website described, contact the managing editor, Hutch Brown, at USDA Forest Service, 2CEN Yates, P.O. Box 96090, Washington, DC 20090-6090, tel. 202-205-1028, fax 202-205-0885, e-mail: rbrown/[email protected].

32 Fire Management Today FIFTEEN SMOKEY AWARDS PRESENTED FOR 1999

Dianne Daley Laursen

he national Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention (CFFP) part­ The Smokey Awards honor sustained, outstanding T nership program presented 15 contributions to wildland fire prevention. Smokey Bear Awards to honor sustained, outstanding contribu­ tions to wildland fire prevention in Bear. From 1957 to 1960, under Lou Southard, a forest protection 1999. The awards include 2 Golden the byline Wes Woods, Newman team leader for the Virginia De­ Smokeys, the highest honor; 3 wrote a daily newspaper comic partment of Forestry in Charlottes­ Silver Smokeys; and 10 Bronze strip that helped to characterize ville, VA, is a recognized leader in Smokeys. All the awards recognize Smokey Bear. His strip reached wildland fire prevention whose at least 2 years of outstanding tens of millions of readers and can work has been adopted for national service in wildland fire prevention. still be enjoyed today. In preparing use. He established a partnership Award winners received Smokey the strip, Newman worked closely between the National Wildfire Bear statuettes presented by the with the Forest Service, which Coordinating Group (NWCG) and National Association of State provided information about Project Learning Tree to enable Foresters (NASF), the USDA Forest wildland ecology and reviewed the thousands of high school students Service, and The Advertising script. Newman then detailed in to learn about fire ecology and Council at ceremonies across the each panel what the artist should prevention. Since 1992, as a Nation. Other worthy projects, draw. To promote dialogue and member of the NWCG Wildland particularly those with future storylines, he invented sidekicks Fire Education Working Team, award potential, were recognized for Smokey, such as Specs the Southard initiated numerous through certificates. raccoon. projects, including a fire prevention Golden Smokey Awards The Golden Smokey Award is presented for a proven record of service in wildland fire prevention on a national level. The two winners for 1999 are Paul S. Newman and Lewis F. Southard, Jr.

Paul Newman (deceased), a free­ lance writer who lived in Colum­ bia, MD, wrote thousands of comic scripts, including many for Smokey Bear. His work gave impetus to the Smokey Bear program during its early years and is still seen and enjoyed by mil­ lions, notably in the familiar comic book The True Story of Smokey

Dianne Daley Laursen is the National Carol Newman (center) receives the Golden Smokey Award on behalf of her husband, Paul Symbols Program operations manager for S. Newman, joined by her stepdaughter Lisa Newman (left). Presenting the award is the USDA Forest Service, St. Paul, MN. Maryland State Forester Jim Mallow.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 33 bibliography for posting on the of which were adopted by NASF which the National Fire Protection NWCG Website, a set of nationally and other States. Using geographic Association adopted as a model for distributed fire prevention video information systems, he prepared its firewise workshops. news releases, and fire prevention maps showing statewide fire risk, a programs for schoolchildren. method that the NWCG extended Silver Smokey Awards Following major ice storms in nationwide in the training course The Silver Smokey Award is Virginia in 1996–97, Southard “Wildland Fire Prevention Plan­ presented for a proven record of prepared an original fire preven­ ning” (P–301). He also supervised service in wildland fire prevention tion campaign, including exhibits, the development of the Virginia in regional (multistate) areas. For posters, and other materials, some Wildland Urban Interface program, 1999, Silver Smokeys went to James Brenner, Kelly Klein, and Jon Skinner.

Jim Brenner, a fire management administrator for the Florida Division of Forestry in Tallahassee, FL, has long promoted Florida’s rich tradition of prescribed fire, a key to wildland fire prevention through fuels management. In 1987, he created the Nation’s first Certified Prescribed Burn Manager Program, followed in 1988 by a “Smokey and the Pros” baseball trading card series. In 1990, he designed a data base for managing prescribed burn authorizations in Florida and then helped other States start similar systems. He authored Florida’s 1990 Prescribed Fire Act, used as a model by other Southeastern States. To get out the fire prevention message, Brenner has developed educational materi­ als for high school students; produced a TV video and appeared on national television; and helped design and promote “Through the Flames,” a painting by Paco Young in 1999 that shows firefighters battling a blaze in Florida’s wild­ land–urban interface.

Kelly Klein, the radio news direc­ tor for Roberts Broadcasting Company, Ironwood, MI, produces a highly successful radio program with wildland fire prevention messages. In gathering informa­ Cover of the comic book The True Story of Smokey Bear, created by Paul S. Newman. Mr. tion for the program, Klein has Newman, winner of the 1999 Golden Smokey Award, was posthumously recognized for formed a voluntary partnership reaching millions with wildland fire prevention messages through his many comic strips featuring Smokey Bear. with the local ranger district,

34 Fire Management Today prevention efforts. The 1999 award winners are Georgean Burton and Cory Child, the California Federa­ tion of Women’s Clubs, Randy Eardley, Harry Kepler, Sue McCourt, Don and Mary Ohrt, Gerald Parsons, Ed Smith, Matt Weinell, and Teresa Winovitch.

Georgean Burton and Cory Child, residents of Sundance, UT, began working 10 years ago to reduce the threat of wildland fire in the growing wildland–urban interface near their small community. They helped procure training for 20 volunteer wildland firefighters at the local fire station; and they challenged local covenants, obtain­ Lewis F. Southard, Jr., holds the Golden Smokey Award presented to him by Virginia State Forester Jim Garner (left) and Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode (right). ing permission to clear vegetation from around the station to provide defensible space as a model for broadcasting special fire danger Website. He also coordinated the area homeowners. Their accom­ warnings or burning restrictions 1999 Great Basin Interagency Fire plishments include coordinating on request. Dubbed “Fire Watch” Prevention Workshop, helping to fuels reduction along the com­ and launched in 1994, the program bring funding and support from munity’s only access road, initiat­ airs during snow-free periods four the Federal Emergency Manage­ ing cleanup days to encourage area times daily, 5 days per week. The ment Agency to the Great Basin. residents to remove fuels from broadcast reaches audiences in He also promoted a series of around their homes, and working Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minne­ committee publications, including with local homeowners to rebuild sota. Listeners hear about current Living With Fire, a tabloid focus­ roofs with fire-resistant materials. fire danger, fire activity, and ing on fire safety in the wildland– requirements for burning permits, urban interface, and Learning To The California Federation of and they are warned that they will Burn…Safe, a guide to safe burn­ Women’s Clubs (CFWC), a volun­ be held responsible for any fires ing practices for farmers and teer service organization headquar­ they cause. In the drought year of homeowners. Skinner initiated the tered in Fresno, CA, is dedicated to 1998, no major human-caused first Idaho Public Conference on promoting education and preserv­ fires occurred in the listening area, Wildland Fire, designed to build ing natural resources for commu­ an indication of the program’s public awareness of fire dangers in nity improvement and the better­ success. the wildland–urban interface, and ment of society. For years, the he was instrumental in establish­ CFWC has supported the California Jon Skinner, a fire prevention and ing Idaho Fire Prevention Week. Department of Forestry and Fire training specialist for the USDI His determination secured funding Protection (CDF) in preventing Bureau of Land Management’s for a series of regional radio and and managing wildland fires. Since Idaho State Office in Boise, ID, has television public service announce­ 1977, the CFWC has cosponsored been a proactive leader in Great ments focusing on risk factors in the CDF’s Coins for Conservation Basin wildland fire prevention the wildland–urban interface. program, generating thousands of activities for several years. A dollars in supplementary funds for member of the Great Basin Fire Bronze Smokey fire prevention and education. Prevention/Education Committee Awards CFWC activities also include since 1997 and currently its The Bronze Smokey Award is establishing a Smokey Bear chairman, he personally crafted presented for outstanding contri­ traveling museum, staffing tele­ and maintains the committee’s butions to statewide wildland fire phone banks during wildland fires,

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 35 holding Smokey Bear poster door-to-door firesafe campaign and county fairs, and at a local summer contests for children, and distrib­ persuaded a local community camp for campers of all ages. They uting bumper stickers with fire college to begin offering the do so many Smokey programs that prevention messages. NWCG course “Fire Operations in they have been assigned their own the Urban Interface” (S–205). Smokey Bear costume. Randy Eardley, a writer/editor/ Many volunteer fire departments prevention officer for the Bureau now require the course. Since the Gerald Parsons, a forest ranger for of Land Management’s Idaho State project’s inception, the number of the Maine Forest Service in Office in Boise, ID, has contributed fires, acres burned, and structures Augusta, ME, has contributed to to wildland fire prevention for lost has declined in Jefferson and wildland fire prevention for more many years. A veteran of one of the Shelby Counties. than 25 years. Actively involved in first cooperative wildland fire the Juvenile Fire Setter Program, prevention/education teams (in Sue McCourt, a fire prevention Parsons has addressed more than New Mexico in 1996),* Eardley has officer for the Forest Service, 25,000 students in central Maine created numerous educational Plumas National Forest, Beck­ schools over the years. In 1996, he brochures and public service wourth Ranger District, Blairsden, cofounded the Honorary Forest announcements to promote CA, has made outstanding contri­ Ranger Program to offer seriously wildland fire prevention, many on butions to wildland fire prevention ill children a chance to help behalf of the Keep Idaho Green since 1993, particularly in training promote wildland fire safety and to Fire Prevention Task Force. For and education. She has taught belong to an organization for life. example, he wrote and designed basic fire prevention to inter- Parsons has also appeared on brochures to help reduce the agency personnel for many years, television in public service an­ incidence of spark arrester fires and in 1993–96 she coordinated nouncements on wildland fire and to inform Idaho residents of the NWCG course “Intermediate prevention. wildland fire dangers and firesafe Fire Prevention” (P–240). As chair landscaping techniques. In 1999, of the California Regional Fire Ed Smith, the extension service he designed a highly successful Prevention Committee in 1994–96, field manager for the University of display for the Idaho Public she made statewide presentations Nevada at Reno, invented an Conference on Wildland Fire: on fire prevention. She also edited imaginative way to educate the Strategies to Protect Your Home powerline, railroad, and industrial public about the threat of wildland and Family. The display has been guides for fire safety, including the fire in western Nevada. In 1997, he used all over Idaho at fairs, rodeos, NWCG’s National Industrial Guide. developed an eight-page tabloid and other events. A veteran of the 1998 cooperative called Living With Fire as an insert wildland fire prevention/education for local newspapers. The weekly Harry Kepler, a fire specialist for team in Texas, she is part of the tabloid focuses on the steps the Alabama Forestry Commission training cadre for the national residents can take to protect their in Northport, AL, has been instru­ prevention teams. homes and reduce the number of mental since 1993 in organizing wildland fires. In 1998, the Great the Wildland Urban Interface Don and Mary Ohrt of Oroville, Basin Fire Prevention Education Project in Alabama’s burgeoning CA, have spent more than 18 years committee adopted Smith’s tabloid wildland–urban interface in in the Volunteers in Prevention for distribution in several States, Jefferson and Shelby Counties. (VIP) program with the CDF. As and there are plans for even Designed in part to educate the local VIP coordinator, Don Ohrt broader circulation in the West. public about fire prevention in the ensured that his VIP performed Material from Living With Fire is wildland–urban interface, the more than half of the Public available for anyone’s use nation­ project has generated displays and Resources Code fire safety inspec­ wide on the World Wide Web at educational materials (including a tions done each year in the CDF . helped recruit firefighters for a volunteer for an average of 70 county fire prevention programs Matt Weinell, a cooperative fire * For more on the cooperative wildland fire prevention/ education teams, see Judith K. Kissinger, “Interagency per year, including events on prevention administrator for the Teams Prevent Fires From Alaska to Florida,” Fire Public Safety Day and Smokey’s Florida Division of Forestry in Management Notes, volume 59(4), pages 13–17. birthday, at local schools and Tallahassee, FL, has provided many

36 Fire Management Today years of distinguished service in submission. The new system will area for which nominated wildland fire prevention in Florida. be implemented for the 2001 (nationwide for the Golden Since 1995, he has coordinated awards. Smokey, regionwide for the Florida’s popular Prevention Silver Smokey, and statewide for Clown Program, which uses the New nomination materials will be the Bronze Smokey). antics of clowns to impress upon available after August 28, 2000, at • Service must be beyond the children the need for wildland fire . job and have significant program annual statewide fire prevention Nomination packets for 2000 will impact. workshops. During Florida’s severe be due October 13, 2000. 1999 fire season, he arranged for Additional award criteria are being placing 100 fire prevention bill­ Anyone wishing to submit a developed (see sidebar). These boards as public service announce­ nomination should complete an award criteria will help determine ments. His efforts to reduce arson electronic nomination form and the scope, impact, partnerships, and his aggressive deployment of mail in supporting materials such and qualities of the nomination fire prevention strike teams helped as news clippings and photographs. package and will be used to evalu­ reduce the acreage and homes Each nominee must meet three ate each nomination. For more burned during the 1999 fire minimum eligibility criteria: information, contact Dianne Daley season. Laursen, National Symbols Pro­ • At least 2 years of activities must gram Operations Manager, Forest Teresa Winovitch, a fire prevention be complete and not in the plan­ Service, c/o Minnesota DNR technician for the Forest Service in ning or development stage. Department of Forestry, 500 Mather, CA, has promoted innova­ • Activities must demonstrate Lafayette Road, St. Paul, MN tive, outstanding fire prevention success in the geographical 55155-4044, tel. 651-296-6006. ■ programs throughout California. In 1997–98, she coordinated the “Keep It Country, Keep It Green” WHAT FACTORS HELP DETERMINE SMOKEY fire prevention events with country singer Michael Martin Murphy. In AWARD DECISIONS? 1998, she was Forest Service coordinator for the California State Representatives from the National Association of State Foresters, the Fair, reaching thousands of people USDA Forest Service, and The Advertising Council jointly select with fire prevention messages in a Smokey Award winners from a pool of candidates who meet the medal-winning exhibit. In 1999, minimum selection criteria (at least 2 years of completed, successful she designed and coordinated activities with significant program impact). What follows is a partial “Camp Smokey,” an interagency list of questions considered by evaluators in selecting award winners State fair exhibit that engaged from the pool of eligible candidates. children in learning about fire safety through fun-filled stations • Does the project/service tier to national target audiences/themes/ with names such as “Smokey’s Fire messages and goals? Station” and “Fire Safe House.” • Did the project receive community or agency recognition? Winovitch has also served as a fire • Was there media coverage/involvement with the project? prevention trainer and member of • Was there more than one contact with the targeted audience? a cooperative wildland fire preven­ • Did the project incorporate multicultural concerns? tion/education team in Minnesota. • Were the results of the project/service measured? • Was the project a catalyst for change? Nominations • Was the project cost commensurate with the benefits received? • Did the project promote interagency and community cooperation? The Smokey Bear Awards nomina­ • Was the project a catalyst for other activity? tion process is under revision. In • Does the nominee exhibit leadership? the future, nominations will be • Is the project a model of success that can be replicated elsewhere? received year-round, with an • Is the nominee an inspiration to others? announced closing date for

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 37 FIRST ANNUAL PHOTO CONTEST

Hutch Brown

he results are in from the first photo contest ever held by Fire Photographs and other illustrations TManagement Today. As you are often the best way to communicate can see from the photos reprinted insights, experiences, and techniques here, we had several fine submis­ sions, including the cover photo in wildland fire management. for this issue.

Why hold a photo contest? Each First-place contestants in each sions, but many were definitely year, the wildland fire community category received camera equip­ what we were looking for. Our captures a wealth of experiences on ment worth $300. In addition, success encouraged us to make the camera, ranging from prescribed contestants who placed first, photo contest an annual event. burning techniques to fireline second, or third in each category action. We wanted to share some of received a framed copy of their Do you have a photo that tells a that wealth with our readers. photo. Every contestant received a story about wildland fire manage­ CD–ROM disk with all photos ment? Would you like the thrill of In wildland fire management, evaluated in the contest. seeing your photo in print? If so, photographs and other illustra­ turn to page XX for instructions on tions are often the best way to For our first photo contest, we how to enter our 2001 photo ■ communicate insights, experi­ obtained relatively few submis­ contest. ences, and techniques—the purpose of Fire Management First Place, Today. But not every manuscript Miscellaneous. Lupines carpeting we accept for publication is fully the floor of an illustrated. So we decided to open old-growth encourage folks, through a photo ponderosa pine contest, to submit compelling forest maintained by frequent photos that we could use to help lightning fires on illustrate articles in the journal. the Powell Plateau, North Rim, Grand We solicited photos in six Canyon National categories: Park, AZ. Photo: Allen Farnsworth, USDA Forest • Wildland fire, Service, Coconino • Prescribed fire, National Forest, • Wildland–urban interface fire, Peaks Ranger • Aerial resources, District, Flagstaff, AZ, 1998. • Ground resources, and • Miscellaneous (fire effects, fire weather, fire-dependent commu­ nities or species, etc.).

Hutch Brown is the managing editor of Fire Management Today, USDA Forest Service, Washington Office, Washington, DC.

38 Fire Management Today HOW DID WE DO THE JUDGING?

We evaluated photos submitted in three steps. First, we looked for technical flaws, such as soft focus. For print publication, photos must have the highest technical quality. We automatically eliminated submissions with technical flaws (even though many were otherwise outstanding).

Next, we judged the remaining photos based on traditional photography criteria. We asked such questions as:

• Is the composition skillful and dynamic? • Are colors and patterns effective? • Does the photo tell a story?

Finally, we made the awards, based partly on absolute merit. For example, if we decided that there was only one excellent photo in a category, then we made only one award in that category—First, Second, or Third Place, depending on how outstanding we thought the photo was.

First Place, Prescribed Fire. Single strip of prescribed fire under ponderosa pines on the Fort Valley Experimental Forest, Coconino National Forest, AZ. Photo: Allen Farnsworth, USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest, Peaks Ranger District, Flagstaff, AZ, 1996.

Second Place, Miscellaneous. Bracken fern, one of many carpet­ ing the forest floor 2 years after a prescribed fire on the Coconino National Forest, AZ. Photo: Allen Farnsworth, USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest, Peaks Ranger District, First Place, Aerial Resources. A P3–A airtanker delivering Flagstaff, AZ, 1998. retardant on the 1999 Yellow Pine Complex, Modoc National Forest, CA. Redding Hotshots (foreground) are preparing to help burn out a large section of fireline after the retardant drop. Photo: James Gould, USDA Forest Service, Klamath National Forest, Happy Camp Ranger District, Happy Camp, CA, 1999.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 39 We are looking for well-composed photos that tell compelling stories about wildland fire management.

Honorable Mention, Prescribed Fire. The Flagstaff Hotshots use prescribed fire to restore a travel corridor for pronghorns. Photo: Allen Farnsworth, USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest, Peaks Ranger District, Flagstaff, AZ, 1999.

Honorable Mention, Wildland Fire. Fayette Lake Fire burning in lodgepole pine at about 9,000 feet (2,700 m) near the Continental Divide on the Jim Bridger Wilderness, Bridger–Teton National Forest, WY. The fire coincided with the 1988 Yellowstone Fires. Photo: Richard Claypole, USDA Forest Service, Klamath National Forest, Happy Camp Ranger District, Happy Camp, CA, 1988.

40 Fire Management Today First Place, Ground Resources. Firefighter burning out a section Third Place, Miscellaneous. Historic fire lookout tree on Lindberg of fireline on the 1988 Fayette Lake Fire, Jim Bridger Wilderness, Hill, North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ. Photo: Allen Bridger–Teton National Forest, WY. Photo: Richard Claypole, Farnsworth, USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest, USDA Forest Service, Klamath National Forest, Happy Camp Peaks Ranger District, Flagstaff, AZ, 1999. Ranger District, Happy Camp, CA, 1988.

Honorable Mention, Prescribed Fire. Strip firing under ponderosa pines on the Fort Valley Experimental Forest, Coconino National Forest, AZ. Photo: Allen Farnsworth, USDA Forest Service, Coconino National Forest, Peaks Ranger District, Flagstaff, AZ, 1996.

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 41 CONTRIBUTORS WANTED

We need your fire-related articles and photographs for Fire Management Today! Feature articles should be up to about 2,000 words in length. We also need short items of a few hundred words. Subjects of articles pub­ lished in Fire Management Today include: Aviation Firefighting experiences Communication Incident management Cooperation Information management (including systems) Ecosystem management Personnel Education Planning (including budgeting) Equipment and technology Preparedness Fire behavior Prevention Fire ecology Safety Fire effects Suppression Fire history Training Fire use (including prescribed fire) Weather Fuels management Wildland–urban interface To help prepare your submission, see “Guidelines for Contributors” in this issue.

42 Fire Management Today PHOTO CONTEST FOR 2001

Fire Management Today invites Rules full name, agency or institu­ you to submit your best fire- • The contest is open to everyone. tional affiliation (if any), address, related photos to be judged in our You may submit an unlimited and telephone number. annual competition. Winners in number of entries from any place • Photos are judged by a photogra­ each category will receive awards or time; but for each photo, you phy professional whose decision (first place—camera equipment must indicate only one competi­ is final. worth $300 and a 16- by 20-inch tion category. • Photos will be eliminated from framed copy of your photo; second • Each photo must be an original competition if they lack detailed place—an 11- by 14-inch framed color slide. We are not respon­ captions; have date stamps; show copy of your photo; third place— sible for photos lost or damaged, unsafe firefighting practices an 8- by 10-inch framed copy of and photos submitted will not be (unless that is their express your photo). Winning photos will returned (so make a duplicate purpose); or are of low technical appear in a future issue of Fire before submission). quality (for example, have soft Management Today. All contes­ • You must own the rights to the focus or show camera move­ tants will receive a CD–ROM with photo, and the photo must not ment). (Duplicates—including all of the photos not eliminated have been published prior to most overlays and other compos­ from competition. submission. ites—have soft focus and will be • For every photo you submit, you eliminated.) Categories must give a detailed caption • Wildland fire (including, for example, name, Postmark Deadline • Prescribed fire location, and date of the fire; March 2, 2001 • Wildland–urban interface fire names of any people and/or their • Aerial resources job descriptions; and descrip­ Send submissions to: • Ground resources tions of any vegetation and/or USDA Forest Service • Miscellaneous (fire effects; fire wildlife). Fire Management Today Photo weather; fire-dependent commu­ • You must complete and sign a Contest nities or species; etc.) statement granting rights to use Attn: Hutch Brown, 2CEN Yates your photo(s) to the USDA P.O. Box 96090 Forest Service (see sample Washington, DC 20090-6090 statement below). Include your

Sample Photo Release Statement (You may copy and use this statement. It must be signed.) Enclosed is/are ______(number) slide(s) for publication by the USDA Forest Service. For each slide submitted, the contest category is indicated and a detailed caption is enclosed. I have the authority to give permission to the Forest Service to publish the enclosed photograph(s) and am aware that, if used, it or they will be in the public domain and appear on the World Wide Web.

Signature Date

Volume 60 • No. 4 • Fall 2000 43 5614

subscription(s) to Fire Management Today for $ 13.00 each per year ($ 16.25 foreign).

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