Forest Health
The Prescott Forest Reserve, what is now Prescott National Forest, was set aside in 1898 to protect water sources for area communities. By this time unregulated logging, mining, grazing, hunting, and recreation had dramatically changed the forest from its natural state. This was also when the Forest Service instituted a policy of suppressing ALL fires that resulted in unhealthy, overgrown forests.
Today, natural resource managers seek to protect nature’s benefits for current and future generations by restoring health to forests, grasslands, and waterways. Projects to protect water sources include cleaning up contaminants at abandoned mine sites; eradicating non-native species—such as the thirsty Tamarisk invading the banks of the Verde River; controlling erosion by maintaining and improving roads and trails; and implementing travel management to keep the area’s fragile soils and vegetation in place.
Timber
Timber specialists work hand in hand with fire managers to restore forest health. Excess timber that crowds otherwise healthy trees is identified by foresters and harvested by commercial logging companies. This win-win partnership provides jobs while improving forest health and supplying fuelwood for heating buildings, pallets for shipping goods, lumber for construction, and other wood products.
Fire: Protecting the things that we value
Prescott National Forest is a complex mix of vegetation, topography, and the wildland-urban interface where residents and business exist adjacent to the Forest’s boundary. This complexity, coupled with thousands of visitors to the forest and lightning during the monsoon season, increases potential for unwanted fires. Unwanted fires can occur at times when conditions are at their worst and severely damage things we value: homes, trees, wildlife habitat, scenery, and clean water sources.
Burning & Thinning to Restore Forest Health
As elsewhere in the United States, Prescott National Forest is comprised of fire-adapted or fire-dependent ecosystems. Along with prescribed fire, the Forest uses other tools and methods to reduce fuels and restore forest health, such as thinning dense vegetation with chainsaws and the use of large, low-impact mulching equipment. These mechanical treatments are often used where and when prescribed fire is unavailable or in an attempt to reduce smoke emissions that can be generated by prescribed fire.
FIRE PREVENTION: A Community Effort
The alternative to prescribed fire and mechanical fuels treatments is—unfortunately—an unhealthy forest destined to succumb to wildfire, insects, and disease. Prescott National Forest has a rich history of partnering with private landowners, homeowner groups, local fire departments, Native American tribes, and other public land agencies in forest restoration and hazardous fuels reduction. The Forest also partners with these organizations to bring land conservation and fire prevention messages to students in area schools.