Issue Overview

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to provide a basic understanding of the issue by factually describing the issue, its scope, and dimensions.

The fire regime in Utah has been deteriorating for many decades as a result of past logging practices, past grazing practices, invasion by exotic weed species, exclusion of fire, and inaction by federal land management agencies due to litigation based on environmental rules and regulations. The result has been an enormous buildup of old-aged, dead, and dying vegetation throughout the state, and at all elevations and vegetative types.

Increases in population have lead to development of permanent homes and weekend cabins in our wildlands. The development of this wildland-urban interface has placed more people and property on the landscape when it is most prone to destructive wildfire. The presence of people, their machines and activities in these volatile fuel areas, increases the chances of fire.

With this description of the fuels and social condition related to fire in Utah , it must be remembered that fire is part of the ecosystem. It is the major factor in regulating the ecosystem and recycling nutrients. Its exclusion for 75 to 100 years is one of the major causes for the difficulties we see in the ecosystem today.

In a properly functioning ecosystem, frequent low intensity fires would remove dead and old-aged vegetation. These fires would recycle the nutrients and stimulate young, vigorous new growth. Over time, a mosaic of diverse plant communities and/or plant communities of different ages would emerge.

The difficulty fire managers face is the need to suppress fires to protect life and property and prevent major conflagration, while still allowing fire to play its natural role in the ecosystem. Fire suppression planning is based on known and expected weather, fuel conditions, topography, known and expected fire behavior, fire location, values at risk, and available suppression resources. Fire suppression plans provide a strategic overview in which fire suppression personnel must make tactical decisions based on the specific conditions they encounter.

In response to these conditions, fire plans have been developed which place emphasis on the protection of human life (first), property (second), and natural resources (third). In wilderness areas and other large blocks of federal land, some fire management zones have been developed. These are areas in which fire will be allowed to burn under predetermined conditions (weather, fuels and seasonal conditions) within a predetermined geographic area. [The counties have not adopted fire planning to date. The federal agencies are beginning a new round of fire planning in which they have a mandate to involve the state and counties as part of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act.]

Options & Trade-Offs

The Division invites Planners to contact them directly for help with this section.

Potential for Conflict

The potential for conflict essentially centers around:

• There are some that believe that fire should be suppressed at all costs, while others believe that it should essentially be left to run a natural course.
• A conflict may emerge over the concept of funding fire suppression efforts. Some may believe that the entire county shouldn't have to pay the costs to save a few homes. Others might argue that the county shouldn't have allowed the home to be built there in the first place.
• Allowing fire to burn in fire management areas involving private and/or state land may require greater suppression resources and expenses to the counties and state to keep the fire in the fire management areas than would have been incurred if the fire had been suppressed when first detected.

Range of Alternatives

Fire management plans with designated fire management areas would allow fire managers to implement strategies to meet the existing conditions. This may entail:

• Full suppression
• Containment strategy in which limited actions would be taken to keep the fire within a specified area.
• Combination of these actions

The actions taken would be determined by conditions on the ground. Factors such as fire location, fuel types and condition, fire behavior and expected fire behavior, smoke management issues, local and national fire activity and time of the season would determine actions and timing.

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Existing Condition

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to describe the existing condition.

Data Review

•  1997 Utah Statewide Interagency Fire Assessment. Copies of the may be obtained from the federal land management agencies or the State Forester's Office.

•  Drought conditions can be viewed at http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

•  Daily fire conditions nationally and locally can be determined from the Eastern Great Basin Coordinating Center . It may be accessed at http://www.blm.gov/utah/egbcc/

Items to Consider

The Division invites Planners to contact them directly for help with this section. Topics to consider include vegetation types, cooperative agreements, natural burn cycles, etc).

Boilerplate Language

• Past logging practices, past grazing practices, invasion by exotic species and fire exclusion have resulted in wildlands which are more dense and less diverse (greater abundance of late successional species), with accumulation of large amounts of woody debris and increased fuel loads. These conditions have created the severe wildfires we have seen over the last several decades. MOST NOTABLY… These intense fires burn more acreage, damage plants and soil, and are more costly to suppress. They also create conditions which allow invasion by noxious and exotic weed species, which pose additional long-term environmental and fire management issues.
• Much of the vegetation on our wildlands is decadent and over-mature. At high elevations, we have tens of thousands of acres of dead and dying spruce. At lower elevations, we are experiencing the death of 25 to 50 percent of pinyon pine.
• These conditions affect federal, state and private lands. In recent years, the federal land management agencies have been hindered by litigation based on environmental rules and regulations; this has prevented useful management practices such as logging, grazing and prescribed fires. These conditions have all contributed to a long-term buildup of volatile fuels.
• Around 137,000 acres of Utah 's wildlands have been developed for housing. IN OUR AREA… There are very strong indications this trend will continue and probably accelerate. Essentially, we are placing more lives and property into vegetation which is more prone to destructive wildfire.

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Desired Future Condition

The purpose of this section is to provide information and boilerplate language that will help to describe the improvements and changes that need to be made to the existing condition in order to achieve the desired future condition. It also provides the basis for the development of policy statements that support the desired future condition.

Range of Alternatives

The nature of fire, interaction between biological and social aspects of suppression creates a wide variety of available alternatives. Given this understanding, the following represents the possibilities in the spectrum of alternatives:

Full suppression: All fires regardless of location, ownership, fuel/vegetation type, time of season are suppressed as rapidly as possible. This is policy and practice which has be followed for the last 75 to 100 years in Utah and the entire western U.S. The result has been the imbalance we see in our wildlands as outlined above.

Balanced Fire Management: A combination of full suppression, modified suppression, and limited suppression would be practiced depending on location, fuel type and conditions, season of the year, smoke consideration, management objectives and availability and kinds of suppression resources. Suppression would be supplemented with fuels mitigation in sensitive locations while mechanical disturbances (logging, grazing, etc.) and prescribed fire would be used in less sensitive areas. Over an extended period of time, fire would be allowed to fulfill its function in the environment and move towards a better functioning ecosystem.

No suppression: No action on any fire. This would result in large, destructive fires. All vegetative and organic matter would be consumed, seeds destroyed, nutrients vaporized and short term soil sterilization. Floods and mud-rock flows would result in additional damage to the environment, infrastructure, livelihoods and lives of our people. The extent to which the environment is out of balance of its natural fire regime would permit these conditions to persist for an extended period of time. Over time the natural fire regime would be re-established but at a terrible cost to the environment and society.

Boilerplate Language

• Healthy ecosystems are biologically diverse, resilient to change, and dynamic. Fire is a natural component; it should not - it cannot - be excluded. A healthy ecosystem would be composed of a mosaic of different plants and/or plant communities of different ages. Disturbance - logging, grazing, wildfire, prescribed fire, fuels management, etc. - is necessary to create and maintain these conditions.
• Healthy plants in a mosaic landscape would tend to burn with less intensity and burn fewer acres, resulting in lower suppression cost. Under these conditions, fire would not be a destructive force but one which facilitates healthy, productive vegetation and recycles nutrients.
• Fire suppression plans should encourage creation of these conditions by allowing fire, under acceptable conditions, to fulfill its natural role in the environment. This would include less aggressive suppression action under proper weather and seasonal conditions. It also encourages the use of more fire management zones, including private and state lands where practical.

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Policy and Position Statements

The purpose of this section is to provide boilerplate policy statement language that will support the desired future conditions. A range of possible conditions is provided here.

Boilerplate Language

• Our native ecosystems are dynamic, natural systems that provide water, forage and habitat for wildlife, livestock and humans; they help clean the air and offer places for recreation and solitude. They also contain timber, energy and mineral resources, and are the headwaters of our food supply. It is our policy that wildlands be restored and maintained in proper functioning condition, recognizing that fire is a major component of the ecosystem that must be allowed to perform its function, commensurate with public safety, within the framework of the multiple-use sustained-yield principle.
• Fire suppression planning can assist in moving the ecosystem towards this healthier state; however, it will require all the actions defined within the forest, rangeland, watershed and fire preparedness plans to achieve this end. This will be a long-term goal taking concerted effort for perhaps fifty years. As this goal is approached, fire suppression planning can be used to maintain the desired conditions.

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Goals, Objectives, and/or Action Items

The purpose of this section is to provide boilerplate examples of the types of improvements or changes that typically would be needed to reach the desired future condition. “Goal” is the desired condition. “Objectives” are improvements or changes that need to be made to reach the goal. “Action Items” are specific actions that can be taken in order to achieve the objective.

Goal : Restore and maintain a dynamic ecosystem through proper management, including fire in its proper place and time.

Objective : Implement protective and restorative actions specified in forest management plans and resource management plans.

Objective : Utilize fire suppression, under proper conditions, location and season, to reduce fuel loading and prompt proper ecosystem function.

Action Item : State and local agencies will participate in identification of geographically-based or criteria-based areas where restorative actions are needed on private, state and federal lands.

Action Item : Counties and state agencies will coordinate fire suppression plans with the federal land management agencies to apply the proper suppression resources regardless of ownership. Where possible, fire will be allowed to play its role in the ecosystem.

Action Item : Counties will work with private landowners and state land management agencies to develop fire management areas to meet the landowners' management objectives. Where possible, they will coordinate with adjacent federal land management agencies to maximize benefits to the ecosystem.

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Monitoring Methods and Mechanisms

The purpose of this section is to provide suggested techniques and methods for monitoring progress towards the desired condition.

Properly functioning conditions exist when soil and water are conserved, and plants and animals can grow, reproduce, and respond favorably to periodic disturbance. Ecosystems are in proper functioning condition when they are dynamic and resilient to disturbances to structure, composition and process in their biological or physical components. Careful demonstration of technical and professional skills can do much to dispel perceived conflicts.

In order to measure progress toward the stated goals, federal land managers will periodically report acres of treatment by treatment type. The reports will be reviewed by the counties, which can provide feedback to the federal agencies regarding programmatic changes necessary, within the context of resource management plans and forest management plans.

The effectiveness of the fire suppression planning will be measured by a reduction in the number of large fires and resultant suppression costs. These reductions will be realized over a very long period of time (several decades) as the combined effects of all land management activities move the ecosystem towards a more healthy and functional state. The impact of fire suppression planning will be minimal in the early stages but will become more noticeable as the ecosystem moves to the goal.

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Sources and Resources to Assist

This section is intended to be a reference guide to help locate any sources of assistance.

As joint representatives of the county and the state, district fire wardens may be used to obtain concurrence of private landowners regarding fire management issues.

The Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands provides technical assistance to private landowners regarding land and fire management. The counties served by the division's area offices can be found at http://www.ffsl.utah.gov/areaoffices.htm

The National Interagency Fire Center website may be found at www.nifc.gov

The U.S. Forest Service Fire Management website may be found at www.fs.fed.us/fire

The Bureau of Land Management website may be found at www.fire.blm.gov

Explanation of the community fire planning process and a template for the community fire plan can be found at www.ffsl.utah.gov/communityfirepln.htm

The National Fire Plan website may be found at www.fireplan.gov

Firewise, a national educational program for reducing hazards in the wildland-urban interface, has an abundance of information on their website, www.firewise.org

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