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In
the FY 2001 Appropriations Bill, the National Park Service
(NPS) received approximately $18 million to accelerate
fuels treatments, planning efforts and collaborative
projects with non-federal partners in the Wildland Urban
Interface (WUI). This appropriation was a result of
the severe fire season of 2000. The projects provided
the NPS with an opportunity to proactively address fuels
management operations so that resource objectives could
be accomplished while providing for firefighter and
public safety.
El Malpais National Monument requested and received funding for a WUI project, called the “Stair Step”, in May 2001. The project area extended along approximately 25 miles of monument boundary, and included some wilderness. The project was designed to provide a defensible area to contain wildland fires that might originate on the monument and spread to adjacent private lands. The intent was not to create a “clear cut or fuel break”, but to form an area that could “check” the fire spread and give firefighters more time to control a wildland fire.
The “Stair Step” project
could not proceed without preliminary compliance activities.
The preparation of the Environmental Assessment was
awarded to Parson’s Engineering and a Finding Of
No Significant Impact (FONSI) was signed by the Regional
Director in December 2001. The next step was to obtain
a cultural resource survey of the entire project area.
El Malpais was fortunate enough to have an archeology
crew on the monument performing other survey work and
they were utilized to complete the survey for the project
area during the summer of 2002. Six sites were identified
as being eligible for the National Register of Historic
Sites. A report was issued to the New Mexico State Historical
Preservation Office (NMSHPO) in September 2002 by the
IMR Santa Fe Support Office. The report was reviewed
by NMSHPO to determine how the sites identified in the
report would be protected . NMSHPO recommended that
the sites should be avoided by the contractor during
the hazard fuel removal project.
The contract specified that live trees were to be thinned at 20 foot spacing with 6 feet aerial clearance. The treatment area extended 100 feet inside monument boundaries. The contractor was to flush cut stumps and leave wildlife snags when possible. Brush piles and logs were stacked in small piles or windrows to lessen the effects of fire on the soils when the piles are burned at a later date. The contract for the thinning and piling was awarded to a local contractor and work started in October 2002. The contractor had to contend with rough lava terrain, wilderness issues (no chain saws or mechanized equipment) and limited access on poor two-track roads.
The contractor brought in two mules and a wrangler to help drag large logs and cut debris to the piles. Local firefighters, from the Zuni and Ramah Indian Reservations, and workers from the local area were hired to help with cutting and piling. The progress of the work was monitored by the Chief Ranger, the Fire Management Staff, and a Contracting Representative to ensure all requirements in the scope of work met project specifications. The project was completed in November 2002.
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