GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK —National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service fire managers, working together as the North Zone Interagency Fire Management Program, anticipate initiating prescribed fire treatment during the fall and winter months as weather and fuel moisture conditions allow.

Prescribed fires play an important role in decreasing risks to life, resources, and property. Fire managers carefully plan prescribed fires, initiating them only under environmental conditions that are favorable to assuring firefighter and visitor safety and to achieving the desired objectives. Prescribed fire objectives include reducing accumulations of hazard fuels, maintaining the natural role of fire in a fire-adapted ecosystem, and protection of sensitive cultural and natural resources.

Planned prescribed burns 

North Rim Slopes Prescribed Fire (Slopes Rx): The Slopes Rx burn unit is located on south facing slopes directly west of Highway 67 and the entrance station and east of the W-4 road and north of the Basin.

This entire burn unit is approximately 22,040 acres in size and will be treated in a multi-year implementation plan.  The number of acres treated will vary from year to year. The Slopes Rx includes previously untreated areas (first-entry) and areas that have experienced fire in the recent past. The area is comprised of mixed conifer forest and ponderosa pine.

Objectives of the Slopes Rx include reducing hazardous fuels, returning fire to a fire-adapted ecosystem, and aid in protecting and enhancing Mexican Spotted Owl habitat.

Bright Angel Prescribed Fire (Bright Angel Rx): The Bright Angel Rx burn unit is within the developed area on the North Rim and is 426 acres in size.  Fire managers have identified five units within the 426 acres that will be treated individually.  One unit of approximately nine acres may be treated this fall near the North Rim Campground.

This burn unit is comprised of a mixed conifer forest and ponderosa pine. Objectives specific to the Bright Angel Rx include improving the defensible space in the Wildland/Urban Interface within the North Rim developed area. This will reduce hazard fuels adjacent to structures to help decrease the threat of unwanted fires.

North Rim Pile Burn: Fire managers are also preparing to burn piles of woody debris as weather conditions allow. The piles are located in the Point Sublime area on the W4 road and consist primarily of small diameter tree trunks, small branches, twigs and needles.

Smoke

Prescribed fire smoke from will be most visible during ignition operations and will likely gradually diminish after ignitions are completed.  Smoke may be visible along Highway 67 and 89A as well as from various locations on the North Rim and South Rim. Smoke is expected in the canyon, one to three days after each ignition related to the Slopes Rx.

Fire managers are working with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality- Smoke Management Division to reduce and mitigate potential smoke impacts.

Advisories

Visitors may see fire personnel, vehicles, and air support in the vicinity when any prescribed fire is being implemented. Please drive slowly, turn your lights on, and avoid stopping in areas where fire personnel are working.

Plans for each burn unit contain a set of parameters which define the desired weather and fuel conditions under which a prescribed fire can be initiated. Prior to implementing the burns, fire managers will evaluate current conditions and will only begin ignition if the prescribed conditions are within those parameters.

Resources

• Twitter: @GrandCanyonNPS
• Grand Canyon National Park website
• Status of any initiated prescribed fire can be tracked on InciWeb
• Contact: Grand Canyon Public Affairs Specialist Kirby-Lynn Shedlowski, 928-638-7958

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

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