HikeArizona.COM

National Forests
Apache-Sitgreaves No Restrictions starting Fri Jul 16th
Coconino No Restrictions starting Fri Jul 16th
Coronado No Restrictions starting Fri Jul 9th
Kaibab No Restrictions starting Fri Jul 16th
Prescott No Restrictions starting Wed Jul 21st
Tonto No Restrictions starting Wed Jul 21st

State Trust
No Restrictions except Stage I in Yavapai County only

BLM
Nothing reported on HAZ thus far.

Per usual; check with the land managing agency before any trip for the best results.

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Update: A-S NF enacting a full closure beginning 6/24.

Update: A-S NF goes to Stage 2 beginning 6/11

Apache-Sitgreaves are the first National Forests in the state to enact restrictions, effective tomorrow May 7, 2021.
These Stage 1 Restrictions are set to expire December 31, 2021.
Read the official forest order here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 909204.pdf

The public land agencies in the Southwest have made yet another attempt at consolidating restriction information in one (woefully poor attempt at an) easy to use website.
Needless to say, it does not yet reflect the announced ASNF restriction. Perhaps it will tomorrow when it takes effect?
You may visit this consolidated source of fire restriction data at this link.

I was looking for a map of the last time Tonto enacted a closure ... I believe it was in 2011 ... when I found this gem from the HAZ Wayback Machine.
It's funny to read through as despite the 20 years that have passed, it's exactly the same comments and replies that I've been reading all week on various platforms.

The surprising thing is that in 2002 the closures happened in mid-MAY!

[ AZ Forest - CLOSED ]

And Coronado is probably sitting there pulling on their finger.

chumley wrote: ↑Jun 22 2021 6:02 pm I was looking for a map of the last time Tonto enacted a closure ... I believe it was in 2011 ...
[ AZ Forest - CLOSED ]

Here is a link to a Tonto National Forest Closure order from June 2018: https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DO ... 583462.pdf

The order was rescinded on July 12, 2018

Tonto is enacting a closure beginning on Friday. Just a bit late to the party like always.

@Watauga
Having the forests close completely is somewhat unusual, having pretty much all of the ones people escape the heat to is even moreso. Normally if something is closed, you just look in a different forest. This year, though? You're not getting anything closer than an 8 hour drive until/if the monsoons come, it would seem.

@xsproutx
Prescott and Coronado still open as of now. If they close, Gila is only 5-6 hours away...

@ShatteredArm

Gila is closed too. Not the whole forest, but a huge swath of the most appealing part of the wilderness.

@andrewp
Plenty of great stuff that's not in the wilderness.

What about BLM land? any full closures ever in those areas?

ShatteredArm wrote:Plenty of great stuff that's not in the wilderness.

Your comment prompted me to start this thread: [ Alternative destinations for those i ... losures ]

Poked around MapDEX a bit and consulted some maps, but I'm not seeing a lot of obvious trails or destinations outside of the wilderness. If you have a moment to post some ideas that would be great.

Also noted a few options in Aldo Leopold wilderness, but some recent commentary suggests that the area has some nasty fire damage which has impacted trail stability and there's an overall lack of reliable water. I'm not finding a lot of concrete info on this one.

The Prescott NF is joining the closure derby: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/prescott ... EPRD925768

Starting today, the Kaibab and Coconino National Forests will be implementing full Forest Closures. The Apache-Sitgreaves will implement a full Forest Closure on Thursday. Prescott National Forest will implement a full Forest Closure on Friday. Also on Friday, the Tonto National Forest will Implement a Stage 3 Forest Closure with some lakes, roads and recreation areas that will remain accessible.

Surprised the Tonto is not going full closure. Not my horse, anymore.

Kinda surprised the Coronado is not more restricted, but as someone else said, there isn't much in the Coronado that didn't burn in very hot in the last 20 years.

Jim_H wrote:Kinda surprised the Coronado is not more restricted, but as someone else said, there isn't much in the Coronado that didn't burn in very hot in the last 20 years.

Although mostly true there are a couple of scenarios that would be devastating.

- Brush fire in Happy Valley getting up onto Rincon Peak. I can imagine any number of scenarios from ATVs to careless campers that could start something up. That area (Rincon Peak) is so overgrown that it would be like applying flame to a book of matches
- Same scenarios in the Canelo Hills getting fire into the western section of the Miller Peak Wilderness.

There are private holdings in the area which would force the FS to put up a good fight, but that doesn't mean that they'd win. Telegraph has show that many times over.

@andrewp
Well, you right, but technically Rincon Peak isn't part of the Coronado. It is inevitable that it will burn hot, too. I think that one spot may be the last unburned higher elevation area of SE AZ. I think, since 2010, the only >8000' range in the Coronado which didn't burn at least once, is the Santa Ritas, and they burned in 2005 or 2006. Even the higher elevations of the Rincons around Mica burned (lower intensity).

Most people (here) hate it when I say this, but I would like to see all of these ranges burn with a mean frequency of 5 years, and a range of every 2 or 3 to 10 years, max. Some could easily accept fire every year. That would be a return to "natural" fire regimes, not be the destructive stand replacing fires we see today, and smoke wouldn't be as bad.

Jim_H wrote:Well, you right, but technically Rincon Peak isn't part of the Coronado.

Yeah, it was more of an illustration of something devastating that could happen as a result of Cornado not closing. Of course, it goes without saying that a fire in that area could be devastating to the surrounding communities as well.

Jim_H wrote:Most people (here) hate it when I say this, but I would like to see all of these ranges burn with a mean frequency of 5 years, and a range of every 2 or 3 to 10 years, max. Some could easily accept fire every year. That would be a return to "natural" fire regimes, not be the destructive stand replacing fires we see today, and smoke wouldn't be as bad.

I would love to see this especially if it resulted in a nice, open forest that could actually thrive. The top of Mica is like this and I think it's a combination of a few low-intensity fires and some prescribed burning by the NPS. Even the area that burned as recently as last summer looks very healthy to the point where you almost can't tell that it had burned.

andrewp wrote:Also noted a few options in Aldo Leopold wilderness, but some recent commentary suggests that the area has some nasty fire damage

A buddy of mine who lives in Silver City has basically told me the same. There's a stretch of the CDT that goes through there and you can use GutHook to maybe plan out something and water sources, though. Looking at the GH comments, there's definitely some in there although most thru-hikers take the Gila alternate. Could be something, though, I guess

The Arizona State Land Department will enact a FULL CLOSURE on all State Trust Land statewide beginning Friday June 25. This includes State Parks that are not in incorporated municipalities.

@xsproutx
I did a nice stretch of the CDT north of Silver City around Twin Sisters back in November 20' and the trails were darn near perfect. Very nice forested area.

Was on the N. Kaibab today AM and saw no notifications/signs/sandwich boards re. closures.There is a syit ton of forest roads out there with no phone service, let alone internet. Since the FS has no one to police folks who have illicit campfires over various forests, how will they EVER be able to mobilize a crew to announce closures in-person to those are camping off the grid (especially that in-person part). N. Kaibab station at Jacob's lake has been closed for 18 months. (Covid ya know )
And where does that budget money GO when no one is working?

@chumley
I don't know what they consider an "incorporated municipality" - but if ROLA is closing, we are not aware of it.
Very unclear announcement, as usual.