Restoring Ecosystems through Fire Management

By Pamela Edwards

Photo by Chris Marks

Fire management at Grand Canyon has evolved over time,

from naturally caused fires and managed burns set by some of the canyon’s original inhabitants to current efforts to preserve natural and cultural resources.

Ponderosa pine forests are common on both the North and South rims. These forests historically experienced low to moderate intensity fires every five to 15 years. Consequently, they were characterized by an open canopy with large, mature trees, and a diversity of herbaceous vegetation along the forest floor. Grand Canyon’s other forest types also evolved with fire. But nature and lightning were not the only source of ignition. For millennia, native people had been managing fire for various reasons, including to improve wildlife habitats and enhance the growth of significant plants.

“The human contribution to historic fire management has been underestimated,” says Jason Nez, a member of the Navajo tribe and a National Park Service (NPS) archaeologist specializing in fire effects at the canyon.

Chris Marks, Deputy Fire Management Officer at Grand Canyon National Park, says there is now greater recognition that native people used fire to shape various ecosystems. “The challenge lies in knowing if the ignitions were human caused or natural, so we consider all of them natural,” he said.

In the late 1800s, land management practices in the west started to change as the European American population increased. Fires were extinguished from most landscapes, and Grand Canyon was no exception. By the mid-1900s, conditions had deteriorated in many forest types. The land was not “hozho,” the Navajo word for balanced. Nez points out that fire behavior is a good barometer for the health of a landscape. “If fire is subtle, it indicates that things are hozho,” he said. “If fire is not subtle, it gives obvious and needed answers.”

The NPS and other land management agencies began to recognize fire’s imperative role in maintaining ecological integrity. Grand Canyon’s forests had significantly changed in just a few decades. These changes occurred at multiple levels, from ecosystem structure to function. In ponderosa pine forests, tree densities had greatly increased, overall biodiversity levels had decreased, and fires were becoming more severe.

By 1980, managers at Grand Canyon National Park began proactively managing fire. Between 1980 and 2018, about 220,000 acres burned in the park. Prescribed fire and naturally ignited fires managed for beneficial resource objectives accounted for 90 percent of that acreage.

Partnerships are an important aspect of fire management. The intimate relationship between the park service and the U.S. Forest Service on the Kaibab Plateau illustrates collaborative landscape-level management. All park service lands north of the Colorado River and the North Kaibab Ranger District are part of the North Zone Interagency Fire Management Program. A supervisor may oversee employees from both agencies and be responsible for managing fire on park and forest lands. Marks highlights that the North Zone was established to manage fire across the landscape and not by boundary. North Zone Fire Management Officer Peter Goetzinger echoes this sentiment. “The intent is to blur the fence and restore fire to both sides,” he said.

The park service also seeks input from other land management agencies and Grand Canyon’s 11 traditionally associated tribes prior to each fire season. The park solicits tribal feedback on fire plans and shares a pre- and post-season fire report annually. “Our goal is to have a positive relationship with the tribes on their traditional lands,” Marks said. “We need to ensure that fire’s ecological role continues, while still protecting culturally sensitive sites.”

The protection of cultural and natural resources is a critical component of fire management. Prescribed fire plans take these resources into consideration from the beginning. With unplanned starts, resource advisers, such as Nez, are consulted immediately on any concerns. This information is considered, along with fire indices, such as weather and fuel moistures, and the fire’s proximity to human life and property, to determine if a fire will be suppressed or managed for multiple objectives. Unplanned human ignitions are always extinguished.

Significant progress has been made in restoring fire’s ecological role in the landscape at Grand Canyon National Park, “We are bringing back active fire regimes and restoring ecosystem processes,” says Marks.