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Prescribed Fires Planned for South Rim of Grand Canyon (Sept 12, 2008)

Fire managers are making preparations for the fall prescribed fire season at Grand Canyon National Park. Current plans call for three prescribed burns on the South Rim.

Prescribed fires are used by fire managers as a tool to achieve defined resource objectives and to reduce dangerous accumulations of fuels which increase the potential for wildland fire hazards to visitors and to adjoining lands. The fires planned for this fall all share the common goals of using fire to decrease risks to life, safety, property and resources by reducing accumulations of forest fuels, and of maintaining fire in a fire-dependent ecosystem.

All three fires are planned for areas near Hwy 64 in between the South Entrance station and the highway’s intersection with Center Road in areas that contain Ponderosa Pine and Pinyon/Juniper stands and include grass and brush.

The Moqui burn unit is 743 acres in size and is located approximately 1.25 miles north of Tusayan and 2.25 miles south of Grand Canyon Village. This unit starts at the South Boundary of Grand Canyon National Park in the immediate vicinity of the South Entrance Station and runs north along the west side of Highway 64 for approximately 2 miles. The western boundary of the Moqui burn unit borders the Kaibab National Forest.

The Picnic burn unit is 222 acres in size and is located approximately 3 miles north of Tusayan and 1.25 miles south of Grand Canyon Village. This unit starts at the junction of Center Road and Highway 64 and runs south along the east side of the highway for approximately 1.5 miles.

The Quarry burn unit is 319 acres in size and is located approximately 2.5 miles north of Tusayan and 2 miles south of Grand Canyon Village. The south end of the Quarry burn unit borders the north end of the Moqui burn unit, and the Kaibab National Forest borders the unit to the west. This burn unit is located west of the dry dump access road, approximately 2 miles north of the South Entrance Station.

More information about each of these fires will be made available as plans progress and as conditions allow for the burns to be initiated. Coordination with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is already underway.

For information on plans for South Rim prescribed fires, please call 928-638-7958.

North Rim

Prescribed Fires Planned for North Rim and North Kaibab (Sept 3, 2008)

The North Zone consists of the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park and the North Kaibab Ranger District, Kaibab National Forest. Plans call for up to eight prescribed fires this fall, ranging in size from 200 to 2200 acres. This year’s North Zone prescribed fires will be focused on areas south and west of Big Springs within the forest and in the vicinity of Hwy 67 within the park.

Prescribed fires are used by fire managers as a tool to achieve defined resource objectives and to reduce dangerous accumulations of fuels, which increase the potential for wildland fire hazards to visitors and adjoining private and public lands. Some of the resource objectives to be achieved with these fires are to reduce the buildup of hazardous vegetation and to maintain natural processes in this fire-dependent ecosystem.

Based on the objectives they wish to achieve, fire managers develop a plan for each prescribed fire. Each fire’s plan contains a prescription—a set of parameters that define when fire managers can initiate burning based on environmental factors such as wind, relative humidity, temperature and expected weather patterns, and on fuel conditions. If all prescriptive parameters within a fire’s plan are not met, the fire will not be started. Extensive coordination with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality occurs before and during any prescribed fire.

Information about specific fires within the North Zone will be made available by the NPS and the USFS as plans for these fires progress and as conditions allow for the burns to be initiated.

For more information, please contact the Grand Canyon Public Affairs Office at 928-638-7958, or the North Kaibab Public Affairs Office at 928-643-8172.

2007 Fire Operations Activity Summary:
(Updated August 27, 2007)

Prescribed Fire Acres:       2,725
Wildland Fire Use Acres:    2,260
Suppression Fire Acres:    < 20

Hazard Fuels Thinning Acres:    0