Map: Most Notable Fires in Arizona and New Mexico

Explore maps of the most notable fires in Arizona and New Mexico 1909*-2021. Shown are the fires listed in our Wildfire Season Overview products as well as any fire over 100,000 acres. All of the maps are georeferenced and can be put on Avenza or a similar app to be utilized on a mobile device! *The available …

Grassification and Fast-Evolving Fire Connectivity and Risk in the Sonoran Desert

IN A NUTSHELL: In the second webinar in a series on invasive grass-driven changes in dry desert systems, presenters will discuss their findings on the fire dynamics of the 2020 Bighorn Fire in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson, AZ to better understand the changing nature of fire in desert systems which are increasingly experiencing conversion …

Postfire Management in Frequent-Fire Conifer Forests

Presenter: Dr. Jens T. Stevens, National Program Lead for the Wildland Fire and Fuels Research, USDA Forest ServiceDate: January 19, 2022 12pm Mountain Standard Time The increasing incidence of large wildfires with extensive stand-replacing effects across the southwestern United States is altering the contemporary forest management template within historically frequent-fire conifer forests. While management of …

Fire-weather Drivers of Severity and Spread: Example from Grand Canyon

Presenter: Stephanie Mueller, Northern Arizona UniversityDate: July 29, 2021 11am AZ / 12pm MDT Fire is an essential component in restoring and maintaining a healthy forest. However, historic land use and decades of fire suppression has excluded fire from millions of forested hectares across much of the western United States, including the Grand Canyon National …

Restoration Treatments: Reducing Fuels and Increasing Understory Diversity

Presenters: Mike Stoddard, Ecological Restoration Institute and Matt Tuten, USDA Forest ServiceDate: Thursday April 15, 2021 11am AZ/12pm MDT This webinar will share research on forest structure and understory vegetation responses to three restoration treatments (thin/burn, burn, and control) over 10 years on a mixed-conifer site in southwestern Colorado. Forest density, canopy cover, and crown …

Indigenous Fire Management & the WUI

Date: March 4, 2021 12pm Mountain/1pm CentralPresenters: Chris Roos, Southern Methodist University; Chris Toya and John Galvan, Jemez Pueblo As residential development continues into flammable landscapes, wildfires increasingly threaten homes, lives, and livelihoods in the wildland–urban interface (WUI). Although this problem seems distinctly modern, Native American communities have lived in WUI contexts for centuries. When …

Healthy low-burning fire weaves underneath trees like a river of liquid gold.

Prescribed Fires & Fire Regimes

Presenter: Dr. Molly Hunter, USGS SW Climate Adaptation Science Center, Research Manager / Joint Fire Science Program, Science AdvisorDate: January 28, 2021 12pm MST Prescribed fire can result in significant benefits to ecosystems and society. Examples include improved wildlife habitat, enhanced biodiversity, reduced threat of destructive wildfire, and enhanced ecosystem resilience. Prescribed fire can also …

Oct 16, 2019: Contributions of fire refugia to resilient ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forest landscapes

Presenter: Jonathan Coop, Western Colorado University Date: October 16, 2019 11am AZ/12pm MDT In western North America, ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forest types appear increasingly vulnerable to wildfire-catalyzed conversion to alternate and non-forest vegetation types. However, unburned or only lightly impacted forest stands that persist within burn mosaics—termed fire refugia—may sustain a range critical …

Burning in the Black Range- Using prescribed fire on the Gila National Forest

A brief look at how the Black Range of the Gila National Forest goes about putting down thousands of acres of prescribed fire. See how the District works in a collaborative and productive manner while working within the multiple-use framework to include grazing, wildlife, recreation, and community outreach. Supported by science, the agency looks to keep fire on the landscape. View the YouTube video here.