There has been a lot of concern this year about wildfires in the United States. In the West, particularly in Montana and California, large acreages of forest, chaparral, and grassland landscapes have burned, some with almost complete vegetation burning and some hardly touched. This is how natural wildfires burn in various ecosystems across the United States, a mosaic of burned and unburned lands. But what about in our “neck of the woods”. How have wildfires affected Sam Houston National Forest (SHNF), fifty miles north of Houston, Texas.
SHNF is just over 163,000 acres of scattered federal lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service (FS). For over 10 years the Houston Sierra Club, each year, has sent the District Ranger at SHNF a request for certain information about wildfires. This information includes the number of fires that occurred in a year, the size of each of the fires, the Compartments and Stands (management units that the FS uses) that the fires burned, and the cause of each fire, which usually is either human or lightning. The latest request by the Sierra Club resulted in information about wildfires in 2016 and 2017. That information was used to provide the following analysis.
In 2016 there were 11 fires which burned a total of 89.65 acres or 0.055% of all acres in SHNF. The wildfires burned in 11 Compartments and there was one wildfire in each Compartment. Twelve Stands burned in the 11 Compartments. All 11 fires were caused by humans. The largest fire was 44.1 acres and the smallest was 0.1 acre.
In 2017 there were 12 fires which burned a total of 90.25 acres or 0.0554% of all acres in SHNF. The wildfires burned in 11 Compartments and 10 of the Compartments had one wildfire and one Compartment had two wildfires. Eleven of the 12 wildfires were caused by humans and one fire (0.1 acre) was caused by lightning. The largest fire was 51 acres and the smallest was 0.1 acre.
What can we learn from this information? SHNF does not have wildfires in size and number that are found in the West. Our fires are almost entirely caused by us. Because of the small, fragmented, and highly roaded nature of SHNF it is relatively easy to get to most wildfires to put them out. The FS has the equipment and back-up support from local counties and cities, state agencies, and other federal agencies to handle these types of fires.
Our climate, which includes 50 or more inches of rain a year, ensures that in many cases vegetation, soil, and leaf litter are not dry or are somewhat moist. This does not mean we cannot have a significant fire as occurred south of SHNF in the 2011 drought in the Magnolia Area. However, the probability for such a fire is low.
A program of prescribed burning to restore the federally endangered Red-cockaded Woodpecker (RCW) also controls what vegetation will burn. Usually 20,000 to 40,000 acres are burned each year in SHNF due to prescribed burning. This means that if a wildfire starts in an area that has had a recent prescribed burn there is less vegetation (fuel) available to burn and the wildfire is not likely to dramatically expand in size.
The one change that the Sierra Club would like the FS to make to its wildfire policy is to use wildfires to meet forest management objectives like RCW expansion and wildlife habitat improvement. Many of the wildfires that burn in the SHNF could be closely monitored to ensure they can be allowed to burn with little concern for human safety. In this way, additional acres would burn and would provide habitat for the RCW and other wildlife and reduce fire hazard since less highly flammable vegetation fuels would be available for burning.
The Sierra Club will maintain its interest in FS wildfire management in SHNF. We look forward to additional input and conversations about the need for additional prescribed burning so that RCW, wildlife, and human safety are provided simultaneously.
Brandt Mannchen
December 19, 2017