Glacier and Yellowstone fire management crews keep water flowing at Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS

A firefighter from Glacier uses a drip torch to burn vegetation along ditches in Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. Prescribed fire is the simplest and most effective way to ensure ditches remain clear for irrigation season.

NPS

In early May 2025, fire staff from Glacier and Yellowstone national parks assisted Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site with burning irrigation ditches for the 2025 season.

Burning irrigation ditches is a traditional practice on agricultural lands. Reducing standing and accumulated vegetation is annual maintenance for ditches that ensures consistent flow of water and prevents clogging of gates, grates, or diversions while also reducing invasive plants that may establish along the ditch. Burning is traditionally seen as the simplest, most effective, and most efficient way to remove ditch vegetation. At Grant-Kohrs Ranch, irrigation depends on historic ditches and pumps that deliver water to the ranch and downstream neighbors. Maintaining ditches is not only part of keeping water flowing on park lands, but also part of being a good neighbor and partner to other water users.

A firefighter with Yellowstone engine 691 mops up behind a ditch-burning prescribed fire at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. Wetting nearby grass after fire removes the vegetation ensures that the fire does not spread beyond the treatment area around the ditch.

NPS

This annual operation typically takes place between the beginning of green-up and irrigation season. In most years, NPS fire staff are joined by staff from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, but this year’s operation was completed with all NPS staff. Six members of Glacier and Yellowstone’s fire staffs completed burning approximately 12 miles of ditches on the park, which covered approximately 150 acres. The operation was completed in two long days of ignitions.

“Having a project like ditch burning at Grant-Kohrs Ranch in April and May of each year is great,” said Glacier National Park fire management officer Jeremy Harker, who also served as burn boss for the operation. “This gives our staff an opportunity to work together, sharpen skills with equipment and each other, and to get training opportunities in a relatively low-complexity environment.”

In addition to these benefits, the Glacier and Yellowstone fire staff got the rare opportunity to work together on the project. This provided a chance for crews from two adjacent fire management zones to further relationships which is valuable when wildfire activity increases.

This project was made possible by funds available through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.