A request for travelers in fire areas.

[Jim]

I have a request for those that plan to travel into some of the larger fire areas this coming summer, especially for those who will take pictures and those who might be going to hard to reach or isolated areas; backpackers, 4x4ers, and long distance drivers.

The idea is simple, if you can, take lots of photos of the the area you see. Not too complicated, right?

As you hike, drive, ride, skip, or crawl, note how things look, for a recovery, maintenance of a fire maintained system, or a general perspective. For example, while I did not make huge cuts through the Schultz burn on the Peaks, I skirted the periphery and can say that a lot of the area was a high density coppice of aspen. If elk browsing was not too bad, by 2020 (10 years post burn) a fairly dense aspen forest (similar to what is seen on the upper stretches of the Pumpkin Trail on Kendrick MT) will likely exist. If there is a lot of wild flower and grass, image that and note that, or if lots of severely eroded areas, capture some of that.

This came about after seeing RWStorm's Coronado Trail SB set from August and thinking that a few images of the Wallow area from 191 is very helpful.

Some requested areas include, but are not strictly limited to:
The Whitewater-Baldy and Miller Complex area fires of the Gila. Including the ponderosa pine parks, the mixed conifer and oak areas, the aspen, the fir-spruce, and everything inbetween.

The Wallow Fire: all of the areas.
The Rodeo-Chedeski areas, it has been a decade.
The Horse and Horse 2 of the Chiricahuas.
The Schultz Fire
Any interesting post prescribed fire areas with regrowth.

Sorry, what I am not asking to see. Smoke, fire from a mile away, or fire/incident related images. Please, if you're taking pics to help me out, no images of men in yellow by their engines, or any of the PR type pics the USFS loves to put up on their websites.

Lastly, if you are going out of your way to help me out with this, please feel free to PM me with a link to the photo-set, as I likely won't see them all if not brought to my attention. You need not have anything more in the message than a link to the set. If I forget, then remind me of this thread.

If this goes well, it might be worth having a HAZ database of fire area images, related to post fire conditions. For example, depending on where a hiker goes, the conditions will vary widely based on pre-fire conditions and fire intensity. So, hiking a 10 mile stretch of trail through McKenna Park to Mogollon Baldy in the Gila, or west to east across the Wallow fire through low-intensity, medium intensity, and high intensity burn conditions will present a vastly different condition of the area today, and could be worth noting. Also, a GPS database might be good for those planning future trips, but that is out of my area of expertise.

Thank you in advance.

[azbackpackr]

I may be heading for the Blue Range again soon, will take more photos. I did post some of the P-J area on Raspberry Trail, burned in Wallow Fire, posted last week.

[azbackpackr]

Heading for the Black River today. Be prepared for unpleasant photos, if you loved that area...

[azbackpackr]

I drove over 100 miles of dirt roads today, from 191 I took 26 and 24, to Sprucedale to Buffalo Crossing, then up the East Fork Rd. to Williams Valley, then to Big Lake and back down to Eagar. I can say that the loggers are cutting some of the burned trees, but some they probably won't get to on the steeper slopes. There are a lot more unburned areas than burned. I'll post later, but mostly various grasses, a few perennials and mullein are growing in the burned areas so far. It's still early spring in that area, so we'll see what comes up. To reach Black River I bushwhacked down a small creek (below Becker Tank/Sprucedale) that had had spotty burning, and it was full of wild rose bushes, which made themselves known by their thorns everytime I brushed through them!

I definitely did not see very many young trees in the burn areas.

[azbackpackr]

Here you go, Jim, a photoset with emphasis on recovery after the Wallow Fire hit Escudilla. This would be almost two years after the fire.
http://hikearizona.com/photoset.php?ID=25227&start=15

[Jim]

Thanks again, Liz.

[azbackpackr]

Thanks again, Liz.

One thing, there is a lot more elk sign this year compared to last, but so far they haven't been eating all the aspens. Hope the aspens get a chance to grow as the elk move in.