Out-of-control wildland fires can change more than the forest ecosystem. They also have unexpected effects on other aspects of the natural environment.
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| Kendrick Mountain, revisiting the Pumpkin
Fire site: runoff, June 2001. |
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| Revisiting the Pumpkin Fire, erosion, August 2001. |
Charlie Denton
Retired career firefighter and district ranger for
the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest
"Smoke is like water…the drainage system…is a statewide problem. You can only put so much smoke in the air."
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Bruce Koyiyumptewa
Silviculturalist, past helitac crew member
"…part of the owl's habitat is downed woody material…when we light a fire, using fire as a tool, sometimes we have to rake leaves, pine needles, away from some of these downed logs or woody material so that we do not disturb this habitat…"
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George Sheppard
Past wildlife biologist, Kaibab National Forest
"...and the slopes that bad burned real hot with extreme fire behavior that stand-replaced, the water hit those slopes and just ran off in sheets, hit the drainages and transported all this material down into the stock tank and further-down drainage."
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