Heritage Resources and Wildland Fire Heritage Resources and Wildland Fire UseUse

by Neil Weintraub, South Kaibab Zone by Neil Weintraub, South Kaibab Zone ArchaeologistArchaeologist

and David Mills, Fire Management and David Mills, Fire ManagementKaibab National ForestKaibab National Forest

What are Heritage What are Heritage Resources?Resources?

Currently there are more than 60,000 heritage resources recorded in the Southwestern Region.

Many of these sites are of great importance to Southwestern Indian tribes including Hopi, Zuni, Navajo, Hualapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Apache and Paiute whose ancestors once lived in the forests.

Heritage sites hold important cultural, educational and scientific values for many Americans and contain clues for understanding how landscapes and cultures of the Southwest came to be as they are today.

Rock ArtRock Art

Rock art, either petroglyphs (pecked) or pictographs (painted) are vulnerable to damage from smoke and heat.

Clearing vegetation from these sites can minimize damaging fire effects.

Artifact ScattersArtifact Scatters

Artifact scatters are most vulnerable to impacts from direct fire fighting efforts, especially heavy equipment.

They also can be altered by high intensity fires.

Prehistoric StructuresPrehistoric Structures

Prehistoric pueblos and other surface features can easily be damaged by aggressive fire fighting efforts; for instance, hasty construction of bulldozer lines.

Rock SheltersRock Shelters

Rock shelters preserve perishable materials such as roof beams, arrow shafts, corn cobs and sandals which are not normally preserved in open air sites.

Traditional Cultural Traditional Cultural ValuesValues

.

Sweat lodges, hogans and gathering areas for special plant resources are also vulnerable to wildfire.

Wildland Fire UseWildland Fire Use

Prior to implementing wildland fire use (WFU) local units must ensure compliance with NEPA, NHPA, and ESA requirements when developing local Fire Management Plans.

Therefore, to allow WFU a unit must have a Programmatic Agreement in place with the State Historic Preservation Office. This will consist of the agreement and an approved strategy for the wildland fire implementation plan (WFIP) process.

“Wildland fire will be used to protect, maintain, and enhance resources and, as nearly as possible, be allowed to function in its natural ecological role.” (Introduction, Page 2).

Heritage Resource Heritage Resource Planning/ GISPlanning/ GIS

Pre-Season WFIP! How much survey

is done and where are areas of Heritage concern?

Identify strategy for protecting heritage sites.

Consider feasibility of surveying areas lacking good information.

WFIP Stage I (Within 8 WFIP Stage I (Within 8 hours)hours)

A “Yes” response to any of the five elements indicates that the appropriate management response would be suppression.

Relative Risk AssessmentRelative Risk Assessment

From Low- little concern about resources to High- values at risk conflict with WFU, mitigation measures are not well established, and/or social concerns such as Tribal conflicts are high.

Location and Protection of Location and Protection of Archaeological SitesArchaeological Sites

Fire sensitive heritage layers

Archaeologist Michael Lyndon’s ATV has all know sites on a Dell

Axim during the Warm Fire Use.

WFIP Stage 2 – (Within 48 WFIP Stage 2 – (Within 48 hours)hours)

Objectives are identified by staff. Trigger points and management actions are specified to meet those objectives.

Establish how many archaeologists are needed and what protection/mitigation measures need to be taken.

Management ActionsManagement Actions

Bar Fire Use - 2006 – fire crew found Navajo sweatlodge just ahead of the fire during Stage I and took protective measures prior to arrival of archaeologists.

Other Protection Other Protection MeasuresMeasures

Dozer lines, hand lines, and black-lining can be effective ways to protect heritage resources.

Dozer LinesDozer Lines

Bulldozer lines can have the greatest negative impact on heritage resources.

It is essential that archaeologists and dozer operators work together to avoid damage to heritage resources.

Hand LinesHand Lines

Depending on the area and the type of fire, hand lines may need to be surveyed prior to construction.

Hand lines can create fire breaks around heritage sites with minimal undesirable effects.

Fire CampsFire Camps

All fire camp locations should be surveyed for heritage resources before deployment if possible.

Camps may become muddy and trucks will damage resources.

Safety ZonesSafety Zones

Safety Zones can be areas of high resource impact. They should be inventoried for heritage resources ahead of time, if at all possible

Known sites can be marked ahead of time and avoided.

Morning BriefingMorning Briefing

Archaeologists should attend all morning briefings and ensure sensitive areas are identified, heritage concerns addressed and mitigation measures described.

On-going Communication with On-going Communication with CrewsCrews

Archaeologists should brief crews about the types of heritage resources that might be encountered.

Crews can be invaluable help in protecting heritage resources and finding new ones, especially in unsurveyed areas.

WFIP Stage 3 – (Within 7 WFIP Stage 3 – (Within 7 days)days)

Document risk assessment over a longer duration.

Establish maximum manageable area (MMA) – with full participation by all resource specialists!

Predict the range of potential fire effects to natural and cultural resources.

Identify threats to natural and cultural resources inside of and adjacent to the MMA boundary.

Set up a monitoring plan.

Heritage Site MonitoringHeritage Site Monitoring

Range of Effects – What is Range of Effects – What is acceptable?acceptable?

Muddersbach Fire Use – burned corral despite hand-line.

Warm Fire Use – PJ burned very hot - Limestone spalled in prehistoric structure.

Resource BenefitsResource Benefits

Wildland Fire Use helps reduce long-term threats to Heritage Resources. Forest fuels are reduced, lessening the potential for a catastrophic fire with greater heat and more damage.National Register Lookout

Tree, Tusayan Ranger District

Fire Archaeology Web Fire Archaeology Web Page:Page:

http://web.mac.com/linnog/iWeb/Fire_Arch/Home.html

Lessons LearnedLessons Learned Although WFU is considered a

management action equal to suppression and thus, constitutes an emergency action, from the perspective of SHPO’s it is an undertaking!

Units should engage archaeologists and other resource specialists in pre-season WFIPs.

Heritage Specialists must be part of the Stage I decisions.

Once the go-ahead is given, archaeologists must stay engaged with the fire-use team.

Ensure that heritage messages are given at morning briefings. State concerns and describe mitigation measures.