BLM and Landowners Encourage the Pack Trail Fire

MEEKER, CO — Ten miles west of Meeker, the Pack Trail Fire is encouraged to burn both on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the Black Mountain Wilderness Study Area, and on private land. The lightning caused fire began July 7, 2005 and is being managed as a Wildland Fire Use (WFU) event. The fire has grown to 2,615 acres, 1,050 acres are BLM land while the remaining 1,565 acres are on private land.

The BLM has been able to manage the fire as a WFU event thanks to the cooperation of local landowners who share the same resource management goals as fire managers. Private landowners’ support increases the ability and flexibility of WFU fires on public lands because fire managers are not limited by the boundaries of public lands.

“This is a different kind of fire than most people are used to,” said Punky Moore, Fire Information Officer for the Pack Trail Fire. “Wildland Fire Use fires are not the same as the suppression fires that we try to control. Instead, WFU fires are managed to allow fire to burn naturally for resource benefits.”

WFU fires are managed within a prescriptive parameter. Actions to maintain the fire are taken once it has reached its limits. Areas where WFU is in effect are well singed and access is restricted so people can enjoy other parts of the public lands without being threatened. Part of the management process involves managing smoke, and the BLM works closely with state and local agencies to mitigate adverse effects to the public.

Fire is a beneficial, natural part of the wildland environment. It plays a key role in healthy wildlife habitat and vegetation diversity.
“Traditionally, fires burned naturally, creating a varied landscape with zones of new and old vegetation,” said Bill Wallis, State Fire Management Officer for BLM Colorado.

However, after generations of suppressing wildland fires, fire has been removed from the natural environment, thus leaving a uniform landscape. This uniformity creates a large expanse of continuous fuels that can result in large, intense fires such as the catastrophic fires Colorado experienced in 2002.

“By reintroducing fire though WFU events and prescribed fire practices, fire managers hope to once again break up the landscape and vegetation to create a natural mosaic of fuels,” said Wallis. “This practice will lead to smaller, less intense fires in the future.”
WFU fires tend to have a longer life than suppression fires because they are allowed to burn naturally within a large, predetermined portion of fire management areas. These predetermined areas are sections of public lands where fire would cause minimal impacts to resources and are identified as places where fire should play a natural role in the environment.

Despite their longer life, WFU fires are usually more cost effective than suppression fires.

“Not only are WFU fires good for the environment, they are less expensive for the federal government to manage than suppression fires,” said Wallis. “This type of fire management is a win-win situation for everyone involved.”

For more information on the Pack Trail Fire, please contact Larry Helmerick at the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, 303-445-4322.

-BLM-