The Springerville Ranger District will continue planning prescribed fire pile burn efforts across 500 acres within the West Escudilla pinyon-juniper treatment units. Recent weather has provided ideal conditions and fire managers will look for opportunities to initiate burning between April 8 and April 30, 2024. The project area is located approximately 10 to15 miles southeast of Springerville-Eagar.
Winter is an optimal time to burn piled slash and woody debris because snow on the ground keeps the fire from spreading to adjacent vegetation. Encroaching junipers were thinned to decrease tree density and canopy cover, and to prevent regrowth of new juniper to restore the fuel type to
grassland, its original fire regime. A ‘fire regime’ is the term given to the general pattern in which fires naturally occur in a particular ecosystem over an extended period of time.
Smoke from these prescribed fire pile burns is expected to be minimal but may impact Highways 60 and 180/191 and the communities of Springerville-Eagar. Drivers are cautioned that visibility may be reduced, especially in the overnight hours when smoke settles near the ground.
Each prescribed fire is designed to accomplish specific objectives and is managed with firefighter and public safety as the highest priority. Fire managers use prescribed fire to improve forest health, remove hazardous fuels, increase firefighter safety, enhance wildlife habitat, and protect communities and watersheds. Landscape treatments on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests align with the Forest Service's 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy, which aims to increase the use of fire on the landscape and other treatments to improve forest health.
Air quality information is available at https://www.airnow.gov/. Visit the A-S National Forests website and follow us on Facebook and X (Twitter).