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Show DNF Says Adams Head Fire Successful By Fran Reynolds Dixie National Forest The Powell Ranger District of the Dixie National Forest has finished conducting a prescribed fire in the Adams Head area, north of Highway 12 and west of the Bryce Canyon Airport in Garfield County. Acting District Ranger Evan Boshell says it was completely successful. "We managed it safely, and it met important resource objectives." The 1740-acre prescribed fire was planned to thin small-diameter ponderosa pine from stands, and reduce the encroachment of pinyon pine and juniper. The project is one of several being conducted this spring by the Dixie National Forest pursuant pur-suant to the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, which was enacted by Congress last winter to help federal land management agencies improve forest health and reduce hazardous fuel loads. According to Powell District Fire Ecologist Amanda McAdams, the many small-diameter small-diameter ponderosa pine trees in the stands in the Adams Head area increased the risk of high-intensity high-intensity wildfire that could kill larger, more valuable trees. "Historically, fire played an important role in the sustainabil-ity sustainabil-ity of ponderosa pine forests throughout the West. Before settlement, fires were typically surface fires that didn't burn the largest trees in the stand. Fire has been excluded from many of these stands for more than 100 years, and they're thick with small trees that a fire can consumeand con-sumeand burn into the largest and oldest trees." Another problem, McAdams says, is that trees such as pinyon pine and juniper have increased in many of these stands. "They reduce the productivity of the ponderosa pines. So, we're working on pushing them back." In conducting the fire, McAdams says local biologists (See FIRE on page 5A) Fire From Front Page worked with fire managers to ensure that habitat for the goshawk was protected and even enhanced. Fire managers are monitoring the Adam's Head prescribed fire daily and will continue to do so until the fire is declared out. It's still visible from Highway 12 near the entrance to Bryce Canyon National Park. Signs remain in place to inform travelers travel-ers of the possibility of seeing smoke. The Dixie National Forest and Bryce Canyon National Park have worked together to monitor smoke impacts in the area, including the placement of smoke monitors moni-tors in Tropic and Antimony. |