Buenos Aires Fire crew works the eastern edge of the prescribed burn. Photo taken by Chris Lohrengel on 5/18/2007 at San Bernardino NWR, Cochise County, AZ.

Fire as it burns on the West Mesa of San Bernardino NWR. Photo taken by Chris Lohrengel on 5/18/2007 at San Bernardino NWR, Cochise County, AZ.

A prescribed burn was conducted on 600 acres of refuge land and adjacent private land on May 18^th.  Engines and crews from the US Forest Service, National Park Service, the fire crew from Buenos Aires NWR, two Environmental Services people from the Tucson office, fire crew members from Bitter Lake NWR, and San Bernardino NWR staff carried out the burn on the west mesa of the refuge and adjoining private land that abuts the north boundary of the refuge.  The burn was done to reduce shrub encroachment into an area of native tobosa grassland; cycle nutrients back into the soil, and to remove fuels and decadent vegetation for wildfire prevention.  The weather did not cooperate with the burn in respect to accomplishing all of our goals.  High humidity and a lack of strong winds did not allow the fire to get hot enough to remove the encroaching acacia and mesquite that were the primary targets of the burn.  However the burn was completed safely with no incidents and a desirable mosaic pattern was achieved over the mesa.  On a side note, the burn will help out a graduate student from the University of Arizona that is doing research on the effects of fire and native bees in the San Bernardino Valley.