Posted on 12/11/2002 9:23:35 AM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
12.08.02 Fire benefits sage grouse
By AARON PORTER The Daily Sentinel
NORWOOD — Patches of green are sprouting amid the charred desolation south of Norwood, heralding the rebirth of lands blasted by wildfire last summer.
The Burn Canyon Fire burned 31,616 acres of federal, state and private lands in July, making it the largest naturally caused fire in Colorado history, according to federal officials. Thick vegetation coupled with this year's dry conditions were largely responsible for the severity of the blaze, officials said.
"This is going to happen more and more in the future, if conditions like this exist and we have similar drought conditions in the future," said Bob Welch, Bureau of Land Management wildlife biologist.
The land suffered. Barren soils are susceptible to erosion and noxious weed invasion. Ranchers have been unable to graze their herds amid a drought when every bit of forage is needed. Prime winter habitat is depleted. Ponderosa pine forests are susceptible to insects.
But it is also an opportunity to make huge advances in range health, officials said.
The fire opened the landscape for Gunnison sage grouse habitat. It thinned forests so choked that a catastrophic wildfire had been inevitable. The range will bear thicker, nutrient-laden forage for wildlife and livestock.
This month, federal agencies and local ranchers are seeding lands burned in the fire to protect denuded soils and nurse the range back to health.
"What we're trying to do is accelerate the front end of the revegetation process," Welch said.
While human intervention is definitely needed in trouble spots, the landscape will do much to heal itself, said Terry Hughes, U.S. Forest Service forest soils scientist. Fire has long shaped the land, he said. {M6
"People expect us to do something, but a lot of times, not doing anything is effective, too," Hughes said.
The Burn Canyon Fire was ignited in July by lightning about five miles south of Norwood on the Uncompahgre National Forest. The burned lands included:
BLM, 11,607 acres.
Forest Service, 10,504 acres.
Private, 7,963 acres.
Colorado Division of Wildlife, 1,542 acres.
Pi-on and juniper forests and sagebrush were hardest-hit by the fire. It "nuked" the trees, literally clearing the land of ground cover and leaving only blackened soil and dead snags in its wake, said Jim Sazama, BLM rangeland management specialist.
The denuded soil is at risk, Sazama said. It is moderately "hydrophobic" now — water repellent and susceptible to erosion.
Grasses and other vegetation release organic compounds during combustion that adhere to soil particles, Sazama said. The process creates a barrier to water, making it run across the soil surface and magnifying erosion.
Similar conditions exist on the Forest Service lands that were burned, said Hughes. The bare soils have also unearthed vulnerable cultural artifacts that need to be protected, he said.
"There's a lot of lithic scatter just shining on the surface," he said. {M6
Noxious weeds are an impending threat to the bare soils. Cheatgrass is found throughout the area and will readily invade the now nutrient-rich soils, Sazama said.
But cheatgrass is also susceptible to frequent grass fires, Sazama said. It weathers the fires easily, but natural grasses could be burned from the landscape, he said.
Private landowners began dropping grass seed from aircraft this month with financial assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, officials said.
This winter, the Forest Service will seed 5,700 acres and the BLM will seed 8,500 acres with grasses.
The Forest Service is relying on winter snows to cover and protect the seed until it sprouts next spring.
Facing more severe devastation in its pi-on and juniper forests, the BLM plans to use a "roller-chopper" to churn the soil and clear some of the dead trees. The machine resembles a massive oil barrel with blades that is filled with water and pulled behind a large bulldozer.
The BLM reseeding project includes about 1,500 acres of Gunnison sage grouse habitat.
The bird, native to the region, is a candidate for listing as a threatened species. Its habitat has shrunk to isolated pockets near Gunnison, Crawford and Norwood.
The Burn Canyon Fire provided a unique opportunity to expand and improve the bird's habitat near Norwood, Welch said. It is removing perches for raptors that prey on the grouse and seeding the area with a special mix that meets its needs for food and shelter.
"Theoretically, this should really improve the sage grouse habitat," said Welch.
The Forest Service is also conducting environmental studies for a salvage timber harvest in its scarred Ponderosa pine forest.{M6
Loggers would cut standing snags, while leaving some to provide shade for seedlings that will be planted to help restore the forests. A salvage harvest would have to be finished before bark beetles invade the trees, Hughes said.
An environmental assessment will likely be finished in mid-spring, Hughes said.
"It's our belief that we can do this with minimal chance of erosion," Hughes said.
The Forest Service has received $166,527 for land treatments, archaeological assessments and other restoration projects, but "funding in the long term is really in question," Hughes said. "All these fires open up the opportunity for noxious weeds to come in, and we're going to try and stay on top of that regardless of whether we get funding or not."
By contrast, the BLM has received $1.7 million for its restoration efforts. Its costs include about $60 per acre for Gunnison sage grouse habitat improvements. The annual budget for the BLM field office in Montrose is about $2.2 million, Sazama said.
Foliage may appear next year, but the landscape won't return to pre-fire conditions for two or three centuries, officials said.
"It will be a number of lifetimes for the treed ecosystems," Hughes said.
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