Fighting fire with fire
Prescribed burning reintroduces natural processes back into the forest
The black plume of smoke rising above the San Cristóbal Valley might seem unnerving, but it’s actually a sign that the forest is becoming a healthier, safer place.
The Carson National Forest has successfully caught up on a backlog of prescribed fire projects near Taos this winter. These burns are the last step in thinning and restoration work meant to remove the dangerous build up of small trees in our low-elevation forests that have appeared over the last century or so. These dense fuels are the primary cause of the super-intense mega-fires that have exploded over the West in recent years.
We humans created this problem, in large part by spending more than 100 years suppressing natural wildfires that historically burned with low-intensity and served to “clean out” young vegetation in certain forests. These fires reduced the competition for more established trees, making them stronger, healthier, and more resistant to drought and bug infestation. In fact, ecosystems like the ponderosa pine forests in the foothills around Taos evolved to rely on low- to medium-intensity wildfires to remain healthy.
Instead, by stomping out natural fire, we allowed that young vegetation to grow into dense thickets under the more mature trees. And now, when a fire breaks out, those dense thickets turbocharge fire behavior by adding far more fuel to the flames. The resulting infernos not only burn up the smaller, weaker trees, but also completely destroy the larger, more established trees.
In order to undo some of these problems and restore the health and function of the forest ecosystems, the National Forest and its partners are removing those thickets of small trees using a combination of chainsaws and prescribed fire. Thinning projects start by cutting down those small trees to give the mature trees some breathing room. But that work creates a new problem: slash (branches and tree tops that can’t be hauled away for firewood) that’s left in the forest can still pose a hazard in the summer heat when they dry up. So in order to remove those smaller fuels, forest managers use prescribed fire when the conditions are right to minimize the risk of a fire getting out of control.
That’s why Taoseños have been seeing so much smoke in the air lately. Fire crews have been taking advantage of cool weather and snow on the ground — perfect conditions to burn off the piles of slash left over from the various thinning projects in the area without fear that the fire will spread. Prescribed fire is fast and cost effective, and helps cycle nutrients back into the ecosystem.
All this is not to say these burns don’t cause some anxiety, or even health concerns. Many residents are understandably afraid of fire — especially after Smokey Bear spent 100 years convincing us that all wildfire is bad. And smoke can be a real concern for those with underlying health concerns (the Forest Service is required to meet air quality standards, but that doesn’t mean some smoke won’t impact some people).
There are other reasons people resist the use of prescribed fire. Some oppose these burns out of general mistrust of the government, and point to instances when planned burns got out of control (these are rare cases, but are obviously hard to live down). Others might see these burns as causing harm to the forest; no doubt the charred ground and odd living tree that gets torched in these burns may look mutilated to some.
But despite this controversy, the truth is that fire is a necessary component of healthy forests and watersheds. Even natural, low-intensity wildfires may look scary or messy, and may even leave burned areas that we’d consider “ugly.” But those short term impacts are outweighed by the ways in which forests species bounce back stronger following these disturbances.
For forest restoration and maintenance, prescribed fire is the only way we can undo the harm we’ve caused and reduce the likelihood of far more damaging catastrophic fires that are inevitable if we do nothing. These forest ecosystems evolved and adapted over thousands of years to rely on wildfire to thrive. Those of us who live in or around those same ecosystems may also need to become fireadapted if we hope to see our forests and our selves thrive as well.
J.R. Logan is the Taos County Wildland-Urban Interface Coordinator and manager of several forest restoration projects that promote ecosystem health, traditional uses and economic development in northern New Mexico. To learn more about the forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction in Taos County, visit taoscountywildfire.org.