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Show District Ranger Provides Latest Info On Sanford Fire Acting Powell District Ranger Priscilla Summers provided pro-vided the following information on the Sanford Fire area. She invites interested citizens to participate par-ticipate in a tour of the area on Saturday, Nov. 2 or Thursday, Nov. 7. The tour will begin at the Bryce Canyon Shuttle parking park-ing lot at 1 1 a.m. and end at 3 p.m. Space is limited, so reservations reser-vations should be made no later than noonon Friday, Nov. 1 by calling 435-676-9300. She encourages people who have questions or concerns about the Sanford Fire to contact her at 435 676-9391. Background The Sanford Fire was the result of two prescribed fires that escaped their planned boundaries and burned together. These prescribed fires were the final phases of projects intended to reduce fuels and improve diversity of vegetation, and increase forage for livestock and big game. At the time they were ignited, last April and May, short- and long-term weather conditions were good for burning. burn-ing. Both fires progressed as expected, creating a mosaic of burned and unburned patches across the project area. By May 19, all the objectives for the prescribed fires had been achieved. Forest Service employees continued to monitor the fires. On May 21, extremely extreme-ly high winds drove one prescribed pre-scribed fire past the planned containment line, so it was declared a wildfire. Suppression actions began immediately. On June 8, extreme weather conditions caused the prescribed fires to burn together, burning over 30,000 acres in a 24-hour period. peri-od. Historically the Sevier Plateau (Mt. Dutton Range) had never experienced the fire behavior that was observed from June 8 through July 1 . On July 1 the Sanford Fire was declared contained, . and declared out on Sept. 20. How Much Was Burned? Within the 78,000-acre perimeter of the Sanford Fire, half the acres did not burn. On most of the rest of land, foliage, twigs and litter burned; the duff layer and down logs partially burned; and a shallow layer of ash covers the ground. Many trees survived. On about 5 percent of the area, a deep ash layer covers soil that has lost all or most organic matter in intense heat. All of the trees are dead in these areas. Of the burned acres, 41 percent per-cent are in sagebrush, 32 percent in mixed conifer, 8 percent in pinyonjuniper, and 4 percent in aspen. What Does It Look Like Now? In most of the burned areas, new grass is growing and aspen is sprouting. In some places the aspen are already 4 to 6 feet high. You can see big game and other wildlife, even in badly burned areas. Ash and sediment have been deposited in the streams. Severe rains after the fire caused streams to flood heavily, moving sediment and ash downstream. Since then some of the streams have begun to clear. Travel All roads and most trails have been refurbished after the floods to allow access. All areas within with-in the fire area are open to travel, trav-el, hunting, fuelwood gathering, camping and other recreational activities. Visitors are cautioned that trees will continue to fall down, especially during high winds, which may block roads. Grazing Grazing by livestock, deer and elk can slow the return of vegetation in burned areas. Permitted livestock grazing will be deferred until vegetation has sufficiently recovered. To hasten has-ten vegetation growth, seeded areas will receive a minimum of two full growing seasons of rest. Permitted livestock grazing in aspen and cottonwood riparian areas will be avoided until aspen stems average 6 feet tall, which can take 2 to 5 years. Permitted livestock, both sheep and cattle, will be managed man-aged under grazing strategies that promote recovery. Grazing in areas outside the burn will be permitted to lessen impacts to permit holders. Some allotment fences that were burned have been repaired and the remaining damaged fences will be repaired in the spring of 2003. Erosion A team of resource specialists evaluated areas affected by the fire to determine the potential extent of erosion, and identify ways to reduce it. Based on their findings, log erosion barriers barri-ers were installed in the Deep Creek and Deer drainages and about 4000 acres will be aerial seeded by the Forest Service and Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR). These actions will reduce the amount of soil movement to streams, reestablish vegetation within severely burned areas, and improve forage and cover for big game and other wildlife. Wildlife The Sanford Fire has impacted impact-ed wildlife in many ways, both good and bad. For big game, new aspen sprouts are providing a source of fresh forage that is high in nutrients. Dead trees are providing nesting and foraging habitat for woodpeckers and other cavity nesters. Because the fire burned at different degrees in different places, there is still cover scattered throughout through-out most of the area. Fish, on the other hand, have not done as well. In some streams on and off the Forest, sediment and ash have collected, collect-ed, changing the chemistry of the water and killing fish. Short-term high water temperatures tempera-tures also killed fish during the fire. Sediment has clogged gravels, making them unsuitable for laying eggs. Due these conditions con-ditions in Deep Creek, UDWR has captured the surviving Bonneville cutthroat trout and moved them to another stream until suitable fish habitat is restored. Salvage Opportunities In August, Forest Service employees reviewed the area of the Sanford Fire to assess the feasibility of salvaging timber. They considered logistics and economics, and the available acreages outside inventoried roadless areas. (At this time, agency regulations do not generally gen-erally permit harvest in roadless areas.) They found that sales would have to be small in size, helicopter logging would be necessary, and finding a contractor con-tractor at a reasonable price would be difficult. 1 Monitoring The Forest Service wants to learn more about the response of the land to burning, and determine deter-mine what additional actions may be needed to promote restoration. A plan is developing develop-ing a plan to guide employees in monitoring short and long-term effects of the fire. |