Sanford Prescribed Fire Review

Abstract

The Dixie National Forest has a long-standing history of successfully implementing prescribed fire and suppression programs. The Forest's safety record has been exemplary. The Forest is known Region-wide for its aggressive and innovative prescribed fire program. In particular, the Dixie National Forest is recognized for its leadership in introducing landscape-scale prescribed fires. On April 22, 2002, the planned 1,500-acre Sanford Prescribed Fire was ignited on the Dixie National Forest's Powell Ranger District. On May 13, eleven miles southeast of the Sanford prescribed fire project, the planned 2,000-acre Adams Head prescribed fire was ignited. By June, these two prescribed fires escape their containment boundaries and become the 78,000-acre Sanford Wildland Fire. $6 million is spent suppressing this wildfire. Impacts include mortality to a Bonneville cutthroat trout fishery and to a highly valued recreation fishery in the East Fork Sevier River. A total of $160,000 is invested in burned area emergency rehabilitation efforts. This extreme fire activity is uncharacteristic of past fire behavior here. Fire records for this area dating from 1970 indicate the largest wildfire on the Powell District previous to 2002 was only 100 acres in size.

Citation

Conroy, Scott; Saveland, Jim; Beighley, Mark; Shive, John; Ward, Joni; Trujillo, Marcus; Keller, Paul. 2003. Sanford Prescribed Fire Review. Cedar City, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Region, Dixie National Forest. 30 p.