CEDAR CITY — The highways in Garfield and Kane counties are about to get a little smokier in an effort by the U.S. Forest Service to improve landscape health and reduce the risk of high-intensity wildfires.

Dixie National Forest’s Cedar City Ranger District announced the Henry Knolls North and Ikes Valley Ponderosa Pine Understory Burn project in a news release on Tuesday.

Impacted areas include the Greater Henry Knolls area in Garfield County to the west, southwest and northwest of Mammoth Creek and the Ikes burn area, comprising Assay Knoll and Uintah Flat, northeast of Duck Creek Village in Garfield and Kane counties.

The prescribed burn window is expected to begin May 14 and could continue until June 15, depending on weather conditions and the moisture content of live plants and dead biomass in the area, said Bode Mecham, the assistant fire management officer for the Cedar City Ranger District.

Typically, the Forest Service pauses prescribed burns in mid-June until Sept. 20 and, depending on conditions, expects work to begin again in the fall, Mecham told St. George News.

“The ignition phase is expected to take multiple days,” forest service staff wrote. “Smoke may be visible for several days after ignitions are complete.

The resulting smoke will most likely be seen while traveling on state routes 14 or 143 or U.S. Route 89, Mecham said, adding that he recommends travelers slow down and use their headlights while driving through the area.

“People should avoid entering these actual burn areas as fire personnel will be actively working in close proximity to the burn and visibility can be limited at times,” he said. “Also, our firefighters are very focused on the fire. We appreciate as few people in the area as possible. It makes it safer for our fire crews to focus on the burn and task at hand without having to watch out for multiple people entering the burn and having to look out for their safety and well-being.”

“We greatly appreciate the public’s patience with us as we conduct this much-needed hazardous fuel reduction project that greatly reduces the risk of catastrophic wildfire,” Mecham added.

While there have been multiple timer harvests and thinning in the area, beginning in 2006, work has not been completed in the two project areas slated for prescribed burns this spring and fall.

The project’s goals are to reduce negative impacts on Mammoth Creek and Duck Creek Village that could be caused by future wildfires, the release states. Crews aim to reduce dead and down fuel loads in the understory in areas where quaking aspens, spruce, ponderosa pines and mixed conifer stands grow.

Additionally, the Forest Service said it intends to raise the forest canopy height by pruning lower branches, which could reduce potential mature tree deaths if there is a wildfire in the area and return the forest’s density to historical levels to “ensure long term viability,” the release reads. 

“After burning, the ponderosa trees will exhibit browning, dead branches on the lower half of the tree,” Mecham said. “This is the pruning aspect left from the effects of the prescribed fire. Do not be alarmed that the tree is dead or dying because the lower branches are brown. If there is any green tree crown on the top of a ponderosa pine, the tree is fine and will likely survive.”

Ponderosa pine forests are fire-dependent ecosystems, and these areas in the Dixie National Forest have missed multiple natural fire cycles, Mecham said.

“Through tree ring data, we have found that ponderosa pine forests burned on the Dixie National Forest at an average of every 20 years on flatter sites that received good rain/snow accumulations and the trees cast more ground litter and needles,” he said.

“On drier areas of the Dixie National Forest, like south-facing aspects, the fire return interval stretched out to around once every 50-70 years,” Mecham added.

For instance, Mecham shared the story of a 328-year-old ponderosa pine tree that had gone 156 years without experiencing fire, “which ultimately led to its demise” in 2012’s Shingle Fire south of Duck Creek Village.

The high-intensity wildfire also impacted 70-80% of the surrounding forest. Between 1684 and 1857, the tree saw and lived through three fires. It was also injured in 1953-54, possibly by a rolling rock or logging equipment, Mecham said.

“From the late 1800s until now, fire occurrence in these areas has greatly diminished or completely stopped, as the tree rings show, due to land management practices such as heavy fire suppression, grazing and logging,” he said.

Because of this, Mecham said there has been a buildup of dead and downed fuels on the forest floor, and there is little grass or flowering plants left in the understory.

The burn is expected to remove some dead logs and all small-diameter twigs, sticks, fallen branches and pine needles, as well as encroaching trees, like white fir, pinyon and juniper, that could contribute to crown fires, Mecham said.

The process isn’t believed to damage the soil like a wildfire would, allowing flowering plants and grasses to return to the understory. Prescribed fires can also create seedbeds where ponderosa seedlings can take root.

“The big takeaway is that there is far less fuel available to be burned in a wildfire, and these treated areas have aided in the suppression of multiple catastrophic wildfires in the past,” Mecham said, adding that prescribed fire projects require “a great deal of forethought, modeling, science, site preparation and data collected before we ignite the burn.”

However, while the Forest Service has conducted hundreds of such projects successfully, there is always a risk involved “when you step into the forest, whether you’re a member of the public recreating or if you’re someone like me doing your job,” he said.

Mecham said the Forest Service works to mitigate risks before a burn begins by improving features, such as roads, trails and natural barriers, constructing firelines, and setting up a portable weather station to monitor conditions in the area.

“This weather station feeds data to the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City every hour,” he said. “We also use this weather station through the burn shift to monitor weather and avoid burning in conditions that are outside of prescription parameters.”

Additionally, the Forest Service has shared information with those living in Garfield and Kane counties and coordinated with a wildlife biologist to clear the project areas before work begins.

“Burning will only occur if all prescribed conditions of the burn plan are met,” Mecham said.

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