Ranger Report July 2022

Just like the 4th of July celebration this past weekend, the start of summer is finally here with a bang, giving us hot weather days. The hot days seem to be consistently moderated with a cycle of thunderstorms, with cooler temperatures and rainfall. This cycle of storms will influence what kind of fire season we have as it did last summer.

I'd like to report out a few key updates and speak to what the Lincoln Ranger District has in store over the summer.

First, I'd like to talk about current fire conditions. Fire needs fuel, so let's start there. Our District Fuels Specialist has five locations across the Ranger District where moisture contents of varying sizes of forest woody debris are measured. The five locations have been measured once a month over fire season starting at the end of June for the past five years. One indicator of how dry the forest is are the logs on the forest floor. The first measurement taken last week indicates the Ranger District is starting with higher fuel moistures in our larger logs than seen the past four years.

Adding to that information, local spring precipitation amounts were well within the five-year range; significantly higher than 2020 and well below those seen in 2018. Average temperatures were on the low end of the five-year range for springtime. The total June precipitation of 2.5", spread over 10 days in the month, has kept fuel moisture values at the higher level measured last week.

Additional measurements from NRCS show the water year data for the west side of the Divide at 110 percent of normal and the east side at 92 percent of normal. The U.S. drought monitor shows the most severe conditions east of the Divide.

The cool, wet spring has put the west side of the Divide – Lincoln Ranger District – in a pretty good spot going into the 2022 fire season. Time will tell these next several weeks – will the continued rain fall from thunderstorms keep the moisture content up, like it did last year? Or will a dry trend such as 2017 establish, creating potential for wildfires?

District work continues, with fire crews returning from out-of-area fire assignments, finishing road opening work and this week switching to prepping prescribed fire unit perimeters for next year's work. Trail crews and volunteers working trail maintenance are out on their hitches in the backcountry and Scapegoat Wilderness, doing trail clearing and repair work. A hitch is a seven-day period of camping in the backcountry where the work needs to be done. Recreation crews are keeping campgrounds maintained and working on upgrades. With a delay in fire season in the area, there is a lot of project work getting done so far.

The Hogum Wildfire Resilience project will have the timber sale portion offered up as a contract in the next month. I don't anticipate timber sale activity to take place in the Hogum area until later this fall.

Expect timber sale activities over the summer and into the fall with the Wasson, Willow and Dalton Timber Sale contracts. With the Dalton Timber Sale, two roads and one trail will be temporarily closed as the contractor will be using cable yarding techniques to remove the timber.

Finally, there are three firewood areas that are good choices for firewood cutters currently available. Firewood permits at no cost can be obtained at the office along with a map of the cutting areas.

Please feel free to stop by the District or give me a call if you have any questions or concerns.