Fact Sheet / Brief
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When animals are concentrated within defined areas, their grazing, trampling, and hoof action help create discontinuous fuels and patches of bare ground. This natural disturbance reduces both vertical and
horizontal fuel loading, enhancing fire control and providing safe anchor points for prescribed fire ignition or wildfire suppression. Unlike mechanical or chemical methods, targeted grazing minimizes soil disturbance and supports soil health while simultaneously lowering input costs.
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This study presents a simulation-guided planning framework that combines fire-behavior modeling with treatment cost and resource constraints. The goal is not to replace expert judgment. Instead, the framework provides a structured way to test a proposed burn scenario, identify boundary locations where fire may escape, and compare alternative treatment layouts before implementation.
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Nearly two decades ago, Utah state officials and the Fishlake National Forest began one of the nation’s most progressive investments in fuels management to improve the ecological health of Central Utah’s forests and rangelands and lessen impacts to communities from wildfire. The 2025 Monroe Canyon Fire is proof of concept of these investments. The Monroe Canyon Fire started on July 13th on a mountain between the communities of Richfield, Monroe, and Koosharem, Utah. Initial fire activity included extreme surface spread with tree torching, rapid perimeter advancement, and very high heat intensity due to
the hot, dry weather patterns, steep slopes, and heavy fuel accumulations.
Initial attack forces immediately requested air support and a Type III Incident Management Team. The Central Utah Type III Incident Management Team took command of the fire the evening of July 13 and Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team 3 took command of the fire on July 16th. An aggressive, full-suppression response to the fire was initiated at the fire’s first report.
Over the course of the next 28 days, the fire grew to over 70,000-acres as weather conditions deteriorated. Extreme fire behavior forced evacuations and threatened communities in all directions surrounding the mountain. Convection columns formed pyro cumulous clouds so large they collapsed on two separate occasions. Weather analysts issued an unprecedented 14 consecutive Red Flag Warnings during one period of the fire and Fire Behavior Analysts recorded and confirmed a relative humidity reading of 2 percent at 9,000 feet elevation, which is thought to be among the lowest readings ever recorded in North
America. Fire activity and growth substantially decreased by August 10th, but it took four more weeks for Complex Incident Management Teams (CIMTs) to achieve 100 percent containment on September 4th.
Throughout the fire’s duration, investments in fuels treatments gave firefighters an advantage as strategically placed treatments guided the fire away from population centers and minimized property loss. Treatments reduced fire intensity, created areas where firefighters could safely engage the fire, slowed or stopped perimeter growth in several areas, and resulted in improved forest and rangeland health in many areas within the fire perimeter. To a large degree, the intensity of the Monroe Canyon fire and the extreme resistance to control is tied to the untreated portions of the mountain and creates a stark
contrast with the portions of the mountain which had been treated. Taken together, the Monroe Canyon Fire is a successful outcome of the investment in fuels management.
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Seeding across two years was beneficial as 2021–2022 was warm and dry (less growth) and 2022–2023 was cold and wet (more growth). The perennial seed mix of forbs, grasses, and shrubs used included nine
dryland species. The forbs were most successful, with the best results in the high seeding rate during the cold, wet year. Unexpectedly, the perennial shrubs and grasses hardly germinated. Researchers suspect
perhaps the commercially grown seeds were not adapted to the Reno climate, or there was not enough rainfall. Bethedging like this with high rates of annual seedling, that include different plant groups, and across multiple years, could be helpful for landscapes with unpredictable interannual weather patterns.
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Aspens impede fire spread
- The study found that, as the percentage of aspen cover increased in a burned patch, the daily area burned and maximum linear spread both decreased. This effect increased as the percentage of aspen cover increased. For example, when aspen cover within a daily burn patch was less than 10 percent, the mean burned patch size was 1112 ± 84 ha/day. However, when aspen cover exceeded 25 percent, the mean daily burned patch size averaged 368 ± 43 ha/day. The researchers found similar effects for linear spread.
- These effects remained consistent relative to other vegetation types regardless of weather or climate. So, while particularly dry or windy conditions cause all vegetation types to burn more, aspen stands still burn at a lower rate than conifer stands. Aspens influence fire perimeters
- Aspens were also disproportionally represented at the perimeters of fires—they were 44 percent more abundant in perimeters than burn interiors. While aspen stands will not stop a fire dead in its tracks,
this result indicates that they can alter fire perimeters and potentially help slow fire spread.
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Land managers rely on best available information and relevant research for decision making, but matching the right information to the right questions can sometimes be challenging. To close this gap, when researchers and managers co-produce research from the beginning it is more likely research findings will have practical applications. Recently published work by USDA Forest Service researchers Chris Armatas, Teresa Hollingsworth, and colleagues working at the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute (ALWRI) in Missoula, Montana, reflects on both the benefits and tradeoffs of using a co-production approach for developing the ALWRI 10-year science agenda intended to help inform management of wilderness areas.
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This brief distills the collective experience of 250+ fire and wildlife professionals into nine of the most persistent challenges—and provides 36+ practical approaches that are already working on the ground. Drawn from a regional workshop and follow-up webinar series, it highlights field-tested strategies that help align wildlife conservation and fire management through shared tools, proactive planning, and stronger collaboration.
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When the Black Fire ignited in southwestern New Mexico in 2022, it had all the ingredients for disaster: record-high winds, extremely low humidity, and over 131,000 hectares (323,708 acres) of forest fuels to feed on. But something unexpected happened. Instead of becoming another catastrophic megafire, it burned mostly at low to moderate severity. The secret? The landscape had already experienced dozens of previous fires, both planned and natural, that helped tame the beast.
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To restore ecosystem health and reduce the negative impacts of wildfire, scientists and land managers argue that more prescribed fire is needed on the land. However, a lack of effectively trained personnel in the role of “burn boss” is a barrier to increasing safe and effective prescribed burning. Burn bosses are responsible for planning and implementing prescribed burns. There are two key contributors to the shortage of these positions: the first is retirement without replacing personnel, and the second is insufficient training mechanisms necessary to increase the number of personnel capable of responding to the challenges of conducting prescribed burns. This research brief summarizes a case study on the redesign of federal prescribed fire training, utilizing up-to-date understanding of adult learning to enhance training effectiveness.
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To effectively manage fire, land and fire managers need detailed, current local information – for example, the amount of burnable material present, fuel moisture levels, winds, temperatures, and terrain changes across time and space. Managers also need these data to decide where, when, and how to treat a landscape while balancing costs and benefits, projected wildfire risk, and potential impacts.