While the Yellow Lake Fire continues to burn in parts of Wasatch, Summit and Duchesne counties, last week’s rain and snow helped contain the fire.
With the decrease in fire activity, local crews are again in charge of fighting the fire. Personnel has also dropped from nearly 900 crew members at its peak to under 350.
Fire managers are now beginning to develop restoration projects for the burn area. Heber-Kamas District Ranger Daniel Jauregui said during a community meeting Saturday a Burned Area Emergency Response team will determine the severity of the burned area.
“A lot of the sites that might have burned are probably your spruce-fir, mixed conifer ones. Some are drier sites, some are wetter sites,” he said. “As they work through it, do we want to put material down on the ground to start holding some of that moisture in so it doesn't just completely dry out, turn the grass on us.”
Jauregui said the restoration plan will consider soil, hydrology, wildlife, fisheries, etc.
Forest Supervisor Dave Whittekiend said the blackened areas of the forests will be looking a lot greener come springtime.
“My hunch is that we'll see a lot of green grass," he said. "We're going to see a lot of aspen coming back in a lot of areas, and we do have a few areas that burn a little bit hot, and we're going to need to make sure we take care of those areas, look at that and do what we can to ensure that there isn't longer-term damage to the watershed.”
The U.S. Forest Service is also considering what to do when Christmas tree hunting season arrives. Many Wasatch Back residents and beyond get permits to cut down Christmas trees in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache and Ashley national forests.
However, recreation in parts of the forests is currently banned due to the fire. Jauregui said many of the trees are fire-weakened and it can be dangerous in the forest as trees are falling on their own.
“It's hard to close something if you can't enforce something, and it's easier when there's no snow on the ground, because I can just close the road, and you got to stay out of it. I can't chase everybody on snow machines up and down the highway,” he said.
As for the wildlife in the area, Jauregui said crews have seen a lot. There aren’t any hunters in the area due to the closures and the animals have spread to the outskirts of the fire.
However, once the fire is dead, Jauregui said the nutrient ash left behind will help the area regrow and wildlife will return.
“I was talking to someone from the Division of Wildlife yesterday, and they said they can anticipate over the next five years, that's probably going to be one of the better places out there, with all the reflush, or the Aspen and the grasses and the forbs and that new creating of openings and stuff, we're going to have a lot of wildlife back in that area,” he said.
The Yellow Lake Fire has also helped firefighters understand how to fight fires more effectively moving forward. California Incident Interagency Management Team incident commander Curtis Coots said the Yellow Lake Fire has opened his eyes; things are changing when it comes to fighting wildfires across the country. He said 100 feet of clearance for containment lines may not be enough anymore.
“The control lines that we used to use with the single dozer blade or the single hand line, I don't know, they don't seem to be the same anymore," Coots said. "Whether you want to call it climate change or whatever, but I think we all can agree that the days are getting hotter, the winds are blowing stronger, the humidities seem to be getting lower, and we seem to have a lot more red flags nowadays, whether it's here in beautiful Utah or back home where I live.”
Fire managers will share more information on restoration efforts and the future of the burn area as it becomes available.
The human-caused fire has burned over 33,000 acres since it was sparked in eastern Wasatch County Sept. 28. It’s 37% contained.
