Fire restrictions are becoming more normal

As has happened many times in recent years, once again, Southwest Colorado finds itself in what can be described as a precarious position when it comes to allowing campfires on the public lands. The general lack of moisture from late winter and through the spring has produced widespread dry conditions throughout much of the Southwest.

Our long-range forecasts tell us that we shouldn’t plan on much relief in the near future. But it rained one day last week, we should be good, shouldn’t we? Simply put, it just doesn’t work like that. Long term drying tends slowly deprive vegetation of the water needed to retain healthy fuel moisture levels. Occasional precipitation events merely suspend those drying trends for short time periods. Once vegetation moisture reaches critical levels, it takes significant amounts of moisture to return them to a healthy and less volatile condition. This is currently illustrated by looking at all the brown grass around the valley, which is ripe for wildfire.

As each rain event offers a slight step in the plant’s recovery, we begin to see the advances in the change from brown to green. This same principle applies to the larger vegetation such as shrubs and trees but at a much slower scale. Consider that a brown lawn can revert to green in a week, with daily watering. It makes sense then to suggest that the trees will take several weeks to change their live fuel moisture to a state where they are not as susceptible to rapid burning. Fire restrictions are determined based on professional judgement and the number of the criteria that surpass certain thresholds.

The Forest Service uses a standard set of seven criteria and professional judgement to determine if fire restrictions are needed including fuel moisture content; energy release component (a measure of how intense a fire will burn); fire danger rating; existing fires and their impact on the availability of firefighting resources; number of human caused fires in the area; current and predicted weather conditions; and zone fire preparedness level.

The Rio Grande National Forest initiated Stage 2 fire restrictions on May 17, which remain in place as I write this. The biggest impact of these restrictions to visitors is that open campfires are not allowed anywhere on the Rio Grande Forest. Only petroleum fueled stoves can be used throughout the rest of the Forest. Also allowed are the gas fueled campfires. Haven’t seen one yet? Check it out, they are a great substitute for a real campfire, and require much less work.

I am becoming more convinced that the vast majority of our local population understands the need for fire restrictions. I often hear support from community members for fire restrictions as the conditions become drier each year. It wasn’t that way, years ago. Land managers, including many of our low-level seasonal employees, would regularly have excitable discussions with forest users and community members that often ended with folks suggesting the Forest Service is trying to control their lives.

Nothing is, or could have been, farther from that being the truth. There are, simply, times when it makes sense to restrict these high-risk activities that are known to cause unwanted wildfires. Period. And, like it or not, these times are happening more frequently.

As always, the Rio Grande National Forest remains prepared to respond to smoke reports and wildfires. If needed, additional resources will be brought in to assist with both initial attack on new fire starts and providing fire prevention information and education. We all play a critical role in the prevention of unwanted wildfires.

By working together and doing our part to spread the word, we increase the odds that visitors will comply with the current fire restrictions, which in turn, will hopefully reduce the chance of human-caused fires and higher levels of restrictions. Gregg Goodland is the Public Affairs Officer for the Rio Gra