Burning a forest isn't easy
White River proposal put on hold once again
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SPANISH FORK CANYON -- The U.S. Forest Service won't start a forest fire on just any day.

They won't set a fire if it is too wet. Or if it is too dry. Or even if it is too windy.Forest Service officials will halt a "prescribed burn" if a cluster of old cabins or a herd of horses is found in the area they want to ignite.

They also will wait to set the fire if there is any chance hunters have slipped past perimeter roadblocks and staked up a camp in the middle of the area officials want to see go up in flames.

"It's a little like a space shuttle launch," said Loyal Clark, spokesman for the Uinta National Forest, while fire crews waited Thursday for the go-ahead on the White River area prescribed burn 44 miles southeast of Spanish Fork.

Controlled or prescription burns allow the Forest Service to choose which patches of forest they want burned -- and what parts are left alone. Officials say a well-managed fire can open up the landscape, restore balance and replace nutrients to the vegetation.

Reseeding also brings back a lot of the native plants.

"(But) everything has to be in place before we light," Clark said. "There's a really short window of opportunity for us to do this."

Hence, Forest Service employees learn to exercise great patience doing their jobs.

Everybody waits. Hand crews wait. And the helicopter pilots wait -- sometimes for years -- to drop an incendiary gel on designated patches of forest.

The 2,000 to 5,000-acre White River burn, for instance, has been delayed for two consecutive years because the fall weather was too wet to guarantee a good burn.

Thursday's burn plan also proved problematic and it was postponed again.

At 9 a.m., the weather was good, humidity within acceptable limits. But a helicopter scan of the designated burn zone found herds of horses and sheep and campers in the area.

By the time Forest Service personnel cleared the way, winds were starting to blow and the humidity was too high. In addition, a storm front was predicted to come in Friday, so there wouldn't be enough time to finish a late-starting burn.

"There are so many factors that go into these," Clark said. "I know the hunters always want to know why we burn during the hunt, but the fall is the best time for this elevation. We sometimes have to make them mad if everything is good."