Today, I finally started coming across fires that burned when I lived there (I arrived in Utah Fall '94). My dad's first job when we arrived in Utah was at now closed Ensign Bickford (also known as Trojan Explosives). Previous to our arrival, there had been an explosion at the plant that started a wildfire on the mountain where the plant sits. I got to map that fire today (shown here in this GE graphic).
It's amazing that 10 years later, the mountain is recovering, but there are still obvious artifacts of the fire. There are snags all over that mountain side and whatever trees that are coming back are still in the sapling/pole stage.
This fire is also a good lesson on geography. The thickest vegetation is always on the northern slopes, where there is an abundance of shade and moisture. That also happens to be where the highest burn severity - or lasting fire effects - were. More vegetation = more fuel = more intense fire = higher severity. The south-facing slopes were mostly oak and grass. Those areas tend to recover much faster.
3 comments:
It is a wonder that anything will burn given this wet year. However, you are getting alot of grass growth on certain areas that will make what fires happen later even worse.
I hated to see the damage done by the fire at Mt. Flonett in Spanish Fork. I actually saw the fire having been in Utah looking for a job at the time. I was staying with my sister in Springville.
Dad Clark
Are you mapping the California fires? Or are they even on Forest Service land? They probably aren't.
Mom
I remember those mountains burning when I was 5. We were living in Salem at the BYU farm where Dad was managing the University's hog operation. Mom thought we were a little too close to the fire so we went over to Grandma Teichert's house across the valley and watch the tankers drop retardant all over the mountain. I have always regarded those two mountain faces before the canyon as "my" mountains since we lived in their shadow. I always make sure to get a good look at them every time I get back to UT.
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