Fire crews have completed treatment on 641 acres of the Reed Rx project with about 700 acres remaining. Ignition operations have ceased for two days to allow smoke to transport away from the site and wait for more favorable weather conditions to return to the area.
Operations will resume into the weekend ahead, and managers anticipate completing the 1340 acre project by Sunday.
“We are grateful for all the community support we received this past week while conducting this important restoration work” said Kaibab National Forest Fire Staff Officer Art Gonzalez. “While we certainly try to avoid impacting communities with smoke, we are confident the benefits of improving
forest health while protecting these rural areas far outweigh the short term inconvenience”.
Smoke will continue to be present, however managers will be monitoring the atmosphere closely and will implement tactics that should minimize impacts to the developed areas. Smoke will be visible from State Route 64, Tusayan, and the Grand Canyon National Park. Some residual smoke is expected to settle into drainages and low-lying areas around Tusayan overnight but will predictably lift rapidly just after sunrise as surface temperatures warm.
Although there are no closed areas near this project, the public is urged to use caution when passing through any active fire area. The portion of the Arizona Trail within the burn area remains open.
Exact ignition dates and specific locations are subject change as burning is dependent upon daily conditions that meet specific environmental parameters. All prescribed fires are also subject to approval by an agency administrator, and by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The department’s Air Quality Division: Smoke Management webpage provides details about its air quality program.
The Kaibab National Forest is committed to providing the public with ongoing updates with as much advance notice as possible. Sign up to receive Kaibab NF news releases in your email.
Our land management strategy is centered on long-term forest health, including reducing forest fuels and using prescribed fire on the landscape. Prescribed fires help reduce hazardous fuels that have accumulated due to drought, climate change, insects and disease, and decades of fire suppression. Fire also recycles nutrients back to the soil, promotes the growth of trees, wildflowers, and other plants, and improves habitat for threatened and endangered species. These efforts align with the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy which aims to increase prescribed fire and other
treatments to improve forest resiliency for generations to come.
Additional information can be found on the Kaibab NF website, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or by calling the Fire Information Hotline at 928-635-8311 or contacting local ranger stations.