New research shows Utah, though it’s only halfway through its wildfire season, is seeing unprecedented burns in woodland and forest areas — and that trend poses “concerning” economic and ecological threats.
That’s according to Phil Dennison, a professor in the University of Utah’s School of Environment, Society and Sustainability, who detailed his ongoing research in a virtual news conference Wednesday.
This year, Utah has already broken its record for wooded and forested areas burned in a single year. So far in 2026, wildfires have engulfed a record 285,000 acres of woodland and forest areas, according to an analysis by University of Utah geographers.
The Widemouth 2 Fire, sparked by lightning last week near Kanosh in Millard County, spread to nearly 85,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Western Fire Chief’s Association’s website.
While 2007 still holds Utah’s record for the number of acres burned across the state, 2026’s wildfires this year have already consumed an unprecedented area of Utah’s trees compared to past years, Dennison said.
“While we haven’t reached a record yet in the total number of acres burned, for the first time Utah has had three fires that have burned more than 80,000 acres of vegetation,” Dennison told reporters.
He pointed to the more than 107,000-acre Babylon Fire in San Juan County, the over 97,000-acre Cottonwood Fire in Beaver County, as well as the Widemouth 2 Fire, which he said have each burned more than 60,000 acres of trees in woodland and forest areas.
“That’s something that’s never happened before going back all the way to 1986,” he said.
In that time span, he said a total of only 10 fires have burned that much vegetation in the state.
“What’s even more important,” he added, “is where this year’s fires are burning. This year’s fires have really had an unprecedented impact on Utah’s trees.”
Woodland areas are characterized by shorter trees like junipers or pinyon pines, while forests have taller trees like aspens, firs and pines.
This year’s wildfires have “far eclipsed the record” for woodland areas burned, Dennison said, while Utah is “approaching” setting a record for forest acres burned.
“We’re not there yet,” Dennison said, noting that 2020 and 2018 still hold records for the most forest acres burned, “but we’re already at almost 75,000 acres of forest burned.”
Another important finding of this research, Dennison said, is that Utah has seen a “big increase” in fire over the past decade, especially when it comes to forest fires, with seven of the 10 largest fires since 1986 happening within the last 10 years.
The statistic that “really surprised us,” he said, is that a total of 10% of Utah’s high elevation forest area has burned in the last 10 years, a trend that has accelerated in the last three years, with 27% of all the forest area burned since 1986 has burned in just the last three years.
“The fact that we’re seeing such a big increase in woodland and forest burned in recent years has important economic and ecosystem impacts,” Dennison said, “and these trends are quite concerning.”
Dennison presented his research the day before state leaders including Gov. Spencer Cox and House Speaker Mike Schultz were scheduled to tour areas impacted by the Cottonwood and Widemouth 2 fires.
Read the full report at UtahNewsDispatch.com.
