Wildfire Fuel Reduction and Defensible Space on Tonto National Monument

Staff at Tonto National Monument along with partners from the Southern Arizona Parks Group, Tonto National Forest, Arizona Conservation Corps, and Arizona Salt River Power and Water (SRP) took measures to reduce wildfire risk and improve ecosystem resiliency.

NPS

In summer 2019, the Woodbury Fire, burning on the Tonto National Forest, burned across 88% of Tonto National Monument, threatening developed areas, and other sensitive natural and cultural resources found within the monument. The human-caused fire began on June 8 within the Superstition Wilderness. The fire was influenced by terrain, limited access, drought, extreme temperatures, and winter rains that exacerbated non-native grasses across the Tonto Basin, creating continuous vegetation to carry fire across a normally broken landscape.

Following the Woodbury Fire, resource and maintenance staff at Tonto along with partners from the Southern Arizona Parks Group, Tonto National Forest, Arizona Conservation Corps, and Arizona Salt River Power and Water (SRP) took measures to reduce wildfire risk and improve ecosystem resiliency within the boundaries of the monument through the reduction of live and dead burnable vegetation along the AZ-188 Highway corridor, monument roads, developed areas, infrastructure, trails, cultural areas, and natural areas established to protect saguaros, cacti, and other Sonoran desert species that are not adapted to fire.

Tonto National Monument was established in 1907 by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect and preserve the prehistoric cliff dwellings and surrounding area for the enjoyment of this and future generations. Projects were prioritized and implemented in consultation with and through the expertise of staff from the Southern Arizona Parks group located at Saguaro National Park and the Sonoran Desert Inventory and Monitoring Group. All facilities treatments and area prioritization were assessed using the NPS Wildland Fire Risk Assessment Database that was developed to provide a standard process for identifying and rating wildfire risk adjacent to NPS facilities.