National Fire Plan Success Story
Maintaining Ponderosa Pine Forests with Prescribed Fire
El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico
National Fire Plan - Fuels Reduction
2009
An Alpine Hotshot ignites the Agua Fria Prescribed Fire.
The Agua Fria Prescribed Fire burns through grasses.
El Malpais conducted 1,113 acre Agua Fria Prescribed Fire along Highway 53 between the El Calderon area and the park’s Information Center in late October 2008. Hand ignition began on October 24 and continued through October 26. Mop-up was completed on November 5, followed by precipitation over the area of the fire.
This prescribed fire project will establish and maintain vegetation composition, structure, and mosaic within natural range of variability for southwestern Ponderosa pine forest ecosystems. The prescribed burn also reduced hazardous fuels, helping to protect archeological sites and structures in the wildland-urban interface along the park boundary.
Ponderosa pine is well adapted to high frequency, low intensity fires. These fires burn litter and release soil nutrients, thus providing a good seedbed for Ponderosa pine seeds. For the first five years of their life cycle, Ponderosa pine seedlings vigorously compete with grasses for survival and are vulnerable to fire. At about five or six years, the tree begins to develop thick bark and deep roots and shed lower limbs. These factors increase its ability to withstand fire and decrease the possibility of a fire climbing to the crown. Ponderosa pine needles on the ground facilitate the spread of low intensity ground fires and reduce grasses that can intensify ground fires.
Ponderosa pine has a natural fire regime cycle of five to 25 years, with moderate regularity. These fires tend to be low intensity ground fires that remove woody shrubs and favor grasses, creating open, park-like stands of trees. Shorter burn intervals have insufficient fuel built up to maintain the fire, and longer periods may run the risk of causing tree-killing crown fires. This unit was previously burned in 1995.
Partners on this burn included the Zion Fire Use Module, Alpine Interagency Hotshot Crew, Salinas Pueblos National Monument, Cibola National Forest (Mt. Taylor District), Lake Meredith National Recreation Area, Ramah Navajo BIA, and a three-person module from the Albuquerque, New Mexico Fire Use Training Academy.
Contact: Gary Luce, Acting Fire Management Officer, (505) 240-0608.