Smoke in the Canyon

According to the National Park Service, the Saffron Fire, currently burning in the Kaibab National Forest at the northern end of the Rainbow Plateau, 2 miles south of the park/forest boundary and 15 miles northwest of the North Rim. As of July 16, 2010, the fire had burned over 3,260 acres. The current fire plan is to allow the fire to burn naturally "within the planned management boundaries (north and east of the canyon rim, south of Forest Roads (FR) 268 and 223, and north of Swamp Ridge Road – the east/west section of the W4 road) in order to maintain fire’s natural role in the ecosystem." See NPS. 

During our recent trip to the North Rim, we found the smoke from the fire drifting generally to the east, pushed by the prevailing south by southwest winds. In approaching the Park we crossed a band of heavy smoke. At first, at the North Rim, the smoke was mainly to the north of the Grand Canyon National Park, but by the next day the smoke had filled the canyon to the east and south. The picture above shows the smoke looking east from the vicinity of Cape Royal. The bright spot is the reflection of the sun in my camera lens caused by the smoke. 

There is a lively controversy over the advisability of fire suppression in most instances. Years of unwise fire suppression have caused a huge build up of combustibles in the forests and when there is a fire, the fires burn very hot and kill all of the vegetation. Driving out to Cape Royal from the North Rim Visitors Center, you can see multiple fire burns in various stages of regrowth. The natural Ponderosa pine forest has an open meadow-like nature. Overgrowth of trees due mainly to fire suppression causes the forest to thicken unnaturally and become susceptible to dangerous fires and also bark beetles and disease. 

Flagstaff has recently suffered a huge fire with flames barely being stopped at the edge of subdivisions. The Schultz fire burned 15,075 acres north and east of Flagstaff. Misguided concerns about "preserving" the forest in the past have contributed to recent huge uncontrolled fires. In Flagstaff the Grand Canyon Forests Partnership is actively moving forward on a forest restoration project in the Fort Valley area northwest of Flagstaff. Treatments of the forest vary: thinning of trees, prescribed burning, meadow and wetland restoration, recreation management, etc. Through these means and with the involvement of the public, the Grand Canyon Forests Partnership hopes to enhance forest values so that they are healthy and sustainable for generations to come.