Natural wildfires largely seen as beneficial in wilderness

Fire may be destructive, but it also has its benefits, noted Seth Carbonari, district fire management officer for the Spotted Bear Ranger District during a recent talk at Flathead Valley Community College.

Throughout history fires naturally occurred in the wilderness, most often caused by lightning. But, in 1910, more than 3 million acres burned in the West, and up to a third of the forest that would one day become Bob Marshall Wilderness, Carbonari noted.

After that, fire was considered the enemy. Land managers did everything they possibly could to put out fire. The 10 a.m. fire policy was initiated to make sure all fires were put out by 10 a.m. An impressive system of fire lookouts was created in the Flathead National Forest. At the height of the fire suppression era, 147 lookout sites were staffed in the Flathead.

This is “mind-blowing” in comparison to how many people are on the fire crews nowadays, Carbonari said.

He said that the lookout staff did a great job of spotting fires when they’re small, calling them into headquarters, then grabbing their gear to put it out.

“It was something people were very proud of,” he said. “We thought as a society that we were doing a terrific job by putting out all the fires.”

Smokey Bear has helped get the message across since 1944.

However, the era of fire suppression caused the forest to build up and create even-age stands of timber that provide volumes of fuel. The forests became more prone to high severity fires, Carbonari said.

The Wilderness Act of 1964 was established to preserve the land’s natural conditions by allowing the forces of nature and also reducing mankind’s impact. Yet, it still allowed fire management to use all methods of putting out fire.

A group of fire managers began to think about this contradiction and considered allowing the forces of nature to allow fire its natural role. The Bob Marshall Wilderness was one of the first wilderness areas in the U.S. to allow natural fire, Carbonari said.

The first event was in 1981 when a 230-acre fire was allowed to burn in the Cigarette Creek drainage of the Scapegoat Wilderness. It was small and didn’t have much potential.

Four years later, at a time when there were a lot of unburned fuels on the ground, fire managers allowed the Charlotte Peak Fire to burn off of Big Salmon Lake. It burned 5,000 acres without negative consequence. It was deemed a success.

“They were taking big risks,” Carbonari said. The fire managers ushered in a new age of not managing wilderness fire. However, they had several guidelines: they had to keep the fires within the wilderness and suppress all man-caused fires if possible.

This fundamental change was given a bad name when the Canyon Creek Fire burned outside of the wilderness in 1988. It was also the year that most of Yellowstone National Park burned.

Canyon Creek started in June in a remote area of the wilderness, so fire managers decided to let it take its natural course. However, there wasn’t much rain that summer so by August it had burned 50,000 acres and the fire season wasn’t over yet.

The jet stream raced over the area in the beginning of September and caused 40-70 mph winds. The fire raced to Augusta, consuming ranch land and threatening homes. In 18 hours, it blazed through 180,000 acres. A few days later, rain put it out.

It made the managers realize, that when a fire starts in June, they’re stuck with it until the end of fire season. They also learned that every fire season is different in severity, Carbonari noted.

Fire managers looked at the role of natural fire again, but despite the catastrophic fire in 1988, they knew they were doing the right thing and just had to be more careful. Since then, there has been a lot more fire in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. What they’re starting to see in the wilderness is the fire breaks up the land and removes the even-age stands of trees, Carbonari said. The land has more variety in the species and the age of the trees.

However, the amount of fire has increased across all types of land in the past 15 years, he said. It’s not all because of letting fire burn naturally in wilderness. It’s possibly a difference in climate or amount of fuels.

“We can’t say its just one thing,” Carbonari said.

What they do know is unnaturally severe wildfires are currently happening. A whole new era has started that is filled with uncertainty as fire seasons are longer and summers are hotter and drier.