"Wallow Fire" in Bear Wallow Wilderness

[azbackpackr]

Lots of activity in Springerville this morning, with the Prescott Hot Shots arriving at Safeway for a snack, and other buses full of firefighters seen on the highway heading for the "Wallow Fire" in Bear Wallow Wilderness Area, south of Hannagan. The smoke is not that visible, although my daughter was over at Hulsey yesterday and saw the smoke. I was up at Big Lake early this morning and could see only a haze of smoke south of there, not a big plume. I think winds too strong for it to plume up much. I'm back in Flag now, so I won't get the firsthand news any more.

Oh, and no campfires or charcoal grills allowed in the campgrounds since last night in Apache-Sitgreaves NF (Big Lake, Hannagan, etc.) I think stoves still allowed. Not sure about non-campgrounds.

Here's a news story on the Wallow Fire, but as of this writing it has not made it to inciweb yet. (Maybe tomorrow?)
( dead link removed )

Perimeter Map [ Wallow Fire Map 2011-06-27 :: map ]
Inciweb ( dead link removed )

[trekkin_gecko]

New fire near Bear Canyon Lake on the Rim above Payson

found this:
http://www.azein.gov/azein/Lists/Announ ... px?ID=1788

would guess sitgreaves will be closing the black mesa district soon

[nonot]

Wallow Fire reported at 511k acres this evening.

East and Southeast side of the fire is not well contained, and there is still a troublesome portion near Greer.

[haggster]

Won't the post-fire erosion threaten the viability of those streams as trout habitat for a while?

Yes, but it really depends on the percentage of burn and how much rain and snow those areas receive in the next few years. If a total burn occurred in most of the watershed areas, then they will likely have a lot of erosion and debris problems in the coming years. I am hopeful that it wasn't a total burn. I think Fish Creek and Bear Wallow Creek were burned pretty bad. Also, the East Fork of the Black looks like it was burned pretty bad in the campground areas according to the MODIS IR maps. However, from Diamond Rock to Three Forks and above, it looks spotty. IMO, that is the best section of the East Fork. Hopefully that area will recover faster. I think it will be 5-10 years before the streams and rivers are healthy and can support aquatic life again.

A friend of mine is a fisheries biologist who used to work in Alpine district, now is working out of state. They brought him in to do some evaluating last week, since he knows the area's watersheds better than anyone who actually works for the A-S now. I am hoping to talk to him or to his wife about some of these things later on.

I would be very interested to hear what that specialist has to say.

[azbackpackr]

Will post when I have the info.

[azbackpackr]

Greer area now open to the public, and so is Sunrise Resort. I am sure that does not mean Greer trails are open, just the commercial interests there. However, probably at Sunrise you can buy a hiking permit to hike on the rez. I may drive up to Greer tomorrow.

[Trishness]

Liz,

Please let me know if you drove up to Greer the other day and what you found. I just got back from Chaco so have been a little out of touch!

[azbackpackr]

I drove to Nutrioso and Alpine yesterday. The towns both looked very good. Hills surrounding them, some are totally scorched, others untouched. Escudilla looked completely totally torched from every direction I saw it.

I heard my favorite creek, Fish Creek, really burned extremely hot except for lower 1.5 miles near Black River. I heard that both Black River and Bear Wallow Wilderness are "spotty" or "patchy." I heard that from that trail crew guy I know, I ran into him in Alpine. He flew over everything the other day.

Flooding is the major worry now.

There are still open places to hike up here, and I saw fishermen at Nelson Reservoir. State land is open for hiking and mtn. biking, etc.

[whereveriroam]

The BAER team issued their "Final (I hope) Soil Burn Severity" map today of the Wallow fire. I'm guessing you can figure out what areas crowned and what areas burned at low intensity by the map. Very interesting to look at and of higher quality then the one they put out yesterday of the Chiricahua damage. According to the map this fire did burn most of the forest however it looks like alot of the forest burned at a low intensity. The Blue looks for the most part to be burning at a low intensity. Surprisingly the Bear Wallow Wilderness doesn't appear to have burnt very hot with a bunch of land around Gobbler point untouched. Buffalo Crossing didn't burn hot but after the rains it'll probably not look the same. Escudilla is toast as well as ALOT of other places. I can't figure out how to put these maps on this site but you can find them on the inciweb site on the Wallow home page, it'll be on the maps link on the top of the page.

[JimmyLyding]

Pictures from a satellite. Not very current.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Natura ... p?id=50872

I think this is the map that whereveriroam is referring to:
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ftp/InciWeb/AZ ... 436-0.jpeg

[Nighthiker]

Actual location or locations of the fire's orgin ?

[azbackpackr]

Actual location or locations of the fire's orgin ?

They keep saying it was in Bear Wallow Wilderness.

Just as I had posted earlier, Bear Wallow looks patchy, whereas, Fish Creek, Horton Creek, and Bear Creek look pretty well torched, although maybe Fish Creek on its lower reaches, where I usually hike it, is not as bad as the upper reaches. I had heard this from the trail crew person I know, who flew the Alpine RD a couple weeks ago.

Incidentally, just FYI, YESTERDAY IT RAINED ALL OVER THE WHITE MOUNTAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[azbackpackr]

I just looked at Inciweb, and wanted to put up a quote and comment on it:

"Elk are continuing to create a safety hazard as they are present on or near most of the highways and roads. The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest is asking that speed be held down to a maximum of 50 mph during dusk to dawn and at night. Holding speeds below 50 mph, especially from dusk to dawn when elk are most active, will greatly reduce the risk of an accident."

Drive to Alpine in the afternoon, doesn't even have to be late afternoon. I personally have never seen so many elk alongside the road. They are everywhere, especially in the late afternoon. So, if you have never seen very many elk, now's your chance, and you can also help the people of the White Mtns. by eating in a restaurant and staying at lodgings, etc.

Once again state lands are open for hiking and mtn. biking, such as G&F White Mtns. Grasslands Area, Wenima Wildlife Area, and any state lands in between.

[joebartels]

areas of steep terrain which will make numerous locations vulnerable to flash floods and debris flows even in moderate intensity (10 - 15 minutes) rains. Some area streams and rivers are likely to see flows beyond anything seen in decades if typical or above average rains occur

[azbackpackr]

We aren't going to see any of that. We are not allowed into the areas where any of that is going to happen.

There may be some homes in Nutrioso and Alpine which are going to be in a flood path, however. If you want to volunteer, they are filling sandbags. Not sure when or where. I know they were doing it in Nutrioso the other day, and they were planning on doing it in Eagar as well. I'm back in Flagstaff for a few days.

Speaking of flooding, Omaha is taking a direct hit, I hear. I have a friend who lives across the Missouri River and commutes to work at a hospital in Omaha. Crazy stories she's been telling us.

[trekkin_gecko]

Speaking of flooding, Omaha is taking a direct hit, I hear. I have a friend who lives across the Missouri River and commutes to work at a hospital in Omaha. Crazy stories she's been telling us.

half of my family lives there
they have to take crazy detours to get places
unable to access much of the riverfront
it's worse in western iowa
omaha.com is the omaha world-herald website
good photos and updates each day
concerns regarding both nuclear power plants which are along the river

[azbackpackr]

We're going off-topic, but thanks for the info. Will check it out.

[SkyIslander18]

This was just sent to me showing the Escudilla lookout tower.

[big_load]

@AZWaterRat
I wonder how much erosion the rains will bring.

[PaleoRob]

[azbackpackr]

Probably a lot of erosion. I have so far visited Nutrioso, Alpine, Hannagan Meadow and Greer. I've posted about those visits elsewhere. Suffice to say, the towns look fine, hills around them are pretty scorched. What we can't see from the highway are the many incinerated drainages which go into the Black River. I have not yet been to Big Lake, since they are only letting people get there in a roundabout way (at least, from where I am it is roundabout.).