Now We Wait

Last night's fire update in the Portal Rescue classroom was again a valuable exercise in explaining what has been accomplished toward containing the fire, and what we can anticipate. Portaleños packed the place, listened, asked questions, and aired concerns.

So far, the fire in South Fork continues to burn at the desired low intensity. Most of the canopy within the burned area of South Fork is still intact. Fire is just reaching the canyon bottom in the vicinity of Maple Camp and higher. We are moving beyond the first big hurdle in what promises to be a month-long crisis. A containment date has been set for mid-June; however we are cautioned that a containment date and a controlled date are not the same. A contained fire has the management plan well in place and holding, but it is not yet controlled.

The fire has not been spreading south of the main burn during the past day or two.

A new, more elaborate fire map added a major feature to the now-familiar fire perimeter (which currently encompasses 37,000 acres) and to the updated extent of the burn: now the map includes a number of interior lines, each labeled as a "MAP" or Management Action Point. (We labored through a lot of acronyms tonight!) A MAP is a trigger point. When the fire reaches that position, it triggers a cascade of new management decisions and actions, all determined by the fire's behavior at that time. Actions may include running a new fire model, encouraging more low-intensity burning, and/or evacuating residents in different parts of Cave Creek Canyon.

Many residents were encouraged that the village of Portal now lies just outside the projected fire perimeter line. We are cautioned that smoke from the fire is expected to get worse, especially as it draws closer to town and as it makes any uphill runs. During the recent period of low-intensity burn, we've seen little smoke.

Any action the crew takes will depend upon the fire's behavior and the type of habitat fueling it: oak habitat is handled differently from pine. Does that fine a level of management imply that we can control this thing? As long as the wind behaves, and other variables fall into place... that's what we're led to believe.

Tonight the crews will begin to employ a new tactic: dropping "ping-pong balls" from a helicopter to set fire along certain ridgelines, ahead of the main fire. (In fire parlance, a "ping-pong ball" is a PSD... no, that doesn't help... a Plastic Sphere Dispenser... or was that a DAID, a Delayed Aerial Ignition Device?)

Whatever you call it, the idea is to slow the fire's advance, to keep it burning at a low intensity by starting another fire ahead of it. Fire on a ridge backs down into canyons much more slowly, in contrast to the blast of higher-intensity fire that often happens when it burns uphill. Burning at night when temperatures are cooler, humidity higher, and winds calmer, also encourages a low-intensity burn. So now that the fire is reaching the bottom of South Fork, the goal tonight is to burn ahead of the fire on the opposite ridge, anticipating the fire's run uphill, to try to keep a low-intensity fire going on the further, western side of South Fork canyon, too.

Paul Hirt spoke to the benefits of this fire, if crews are able to maintain a low-intensity burn. He's right. We've had 100 years of fire suppression and fuel build-up, and as long as this continues to be handled skillfully and if the wind continues to cooperate, the habitat stands to benefit considerably in the long term. Once it's behind us, the longer-term prospects for a catastrophic fire are diminished.

Biologists from the Forest Service expressed hope that most tree-nesting birds will survive the burn. Although they didn't mention ground-nesting species like Painted Redstarts and Red-faced Warblers, those are obviously much more vulnerable; however most adult birds should be able to move out of harm's path. Special care is being taken around the known nest territories of Spotted Owls (another acronym cropped up here––you really don't want to know).

Spotted Owl (Pen and ink by Narca)

We're walking a fine balance, and so far, so good. Most preparations are in place, and now we wait.

Glenn Klingler is still considering running the near-annual trogon census about the third weekend in June, but that is entirely dependent on the fire's behavior then. Public safety will be the paramount factor.

The community gives its hearty thanks to everyone working so hard on the Horseshoe Fire and our best wishes for a speedy recovery to the two firefighters who were injured while working the firelines, and who were airlifted to Tucson. I hear that a new sign has gone up in town, complete with balloons, expressing those thanks. (Delane, did I get that right? Balloons? Ribbons? Colored flagging, such as has appeared on various street signs and structures around the canyon?). The fire team also very sincerely thanked District Ranger Bill Edwards and the other employees of Coronado National Forest for their big help and cooperation, saying that such cooperation isn't always forthcoming.

(A note to Hizzoner the Mayor––a.k.a. Howard Topoff: after seeing up close how a real government agency functions, I don't think we have enough acronyms in Portal.)

Fire Not Deterring Illegal Immigrants

I should also note that Helen and I were told by firefighters that they are continuing to see illegal immigrants, by day and by night (through night-vision binoculars), who are traversing the Chiricahua Mountains, even as they burn, even through the newly-burned region.

If you really would like to help Portal, the Chiricahua Mountains, and other Borderland communities, please support immediate enforcement of our immigration laws and (as a separate issue) reform of our immigration policy, including reinstituting a rational, national workers' program, such as the Braceros program which the US had for many years during and after World War II. It worked.

Such a worker program would  prevent the sufferings and occasional deaths of workers attempting to enter the country illegally––and it would alleviate problems in places like Portal, where fully 1/4 of all homes were broken into last year by illegal immigrants. It would also address an economic need in the US. You have only to stay a short while in our Border communities to sense the growing desperation, as the federal government holds back from dealing with this complex problem, out of fear of losing votes.

South Fork Today: the Horseshoe Fire

Last night smoke from the Horseshoe Fire made sleep difficult. When the smoke eased, I slept in––until a phone call from Helen Snyder had me out of bed and out the door in 15 minutes!

We met Jim Payne and Ron Kaczor, both public information officials assigned to the fire, at the Visitor Center in Cave Creek Canyon, and they took Helen and me into South Fork for a firsthand look at fire preparations in that much-loved canyon.

Horseshoe Fire Map, day by day growth

I'll summarize the situation first, then go into details of what we saw. The fire is now backing into the upper reaches of South Fork, its growth slowed by light, upslope wind. Debris fall from burning trees carries it downslope. It is burning into the region above Maple Camp and is expected to reach the canyon bottom by tonight. So far (incredibly, in the view of experts here) flames running into the canyon have only been 6 inches to 3 feet high in most places––perfect for a low-intensity burn. No one expected it to behave as sedately in South Fork as it has thus far done.

Firefighters identified two scree slopes on opposing walls of South Fork and built a fire line between them. They will try to hold the fire at that line, in the upper reaches of the canyon. During the 1994 Rattlesnake Fire, they anchored the fire lines on ridgetops, only to see line after line blown away by that inferno, in a terribly frustrating loss of effort. Helen and I talked to firefighters who had also worked the Rattlesnake, and they said that they had been "well-schooled" by that fire. One laughed and said that he had never wanted to be assigned to the Chiricahuas again because of the exceedingly rugged terrain, and he has refused other assignments here. Yet he's back now, helping in South Fork.

Discussing fire map with Jim Payne & Division subchief

(Photo by Helen Snyder)

As we drove into the main Cave Creek Canyon, we saw where fire crews have been cutting back brush from along the road, for the most part taking small trees and shrubs. Next step is to come through with a big chipper, and to reduce all the cuttings to woodchips, which are left along the roadside.

Preparations at cabin in South Fork (Photo by Narca)

In South Fork, nothing has been "brushed" except in the immediate area of the two cabins just above the bridge. There, trees were left standing, and the undergrowth was completely removed and raked away. Sprinkler systems have been set up around both cabins (as is being done around residences in the main canyon). Otherwise, South Fork––so far––is as it was, a rich tangle of riparian habitat where the calls of nesting trogons echo from the cliff faces.

Fire crews assemble in South Fork (Photo by Narca)

At the trailhead was a fire-jam of firetrucks, firefighters, and safety officers. One was manipulating computer images on a laptop, atop the roof of his truck. His program was the most sophisticated use of Google Earth I've yet seen. There was the terrain around South Fork, with the current fire perimeter and all the technical information about the landscape needed for studying and implementing their strategies.

High-tech fire-fighting, with Helen Snyder looking on 

(Photo by Narca)

Showing the crew a trogon nest 

(Photo by Helen Snyder)

Trogons are exerting their charm over the workers here. A male repeatedly landed on one of the picnic tables, in full view of crews assembling in South Fork early this morning. Several of the firefighters trailed after us to look at a nearby trogon nest. They wanted to hear about the richness of the canyon and the factors that create its high diversity. Our community is tremendously grateful for their hard work.

Portal-style fire command center (Photo by Narca)

Horseshoe Fire on Memorial Day

Here's a very quick update for you: Alan and I headed up canyon again and, with Noel Snyder, evacuated much of the cabin of absent friends. We'll return tomorrow to finish the job. A firefighter clearing brush at the cabin said that the fire is still burning up high and has not yet moved into South Fork.

The main Fire Camp is along Highway 80, at the junction with Portal Road and next to the Chiricahua Desert Museum. According to Jeff, it is now a Fire City bigger than Portal, Rodeo, Apache and Paradise combined, and is temporary home to 750 firefighters (the number grows!). Anyone can stop in there to ask for information.

Horseshoe Fire by day (Photo by Narca)

Steve Cullen's dramatic nighttime photo, taken this morning at 3 AM, shows the shift in the fire's location, compared with just a day ago (photo in last post).

Horseshoe Fire at 3 AM, May 31 (Photo by Steve Cullen/LightBuckets)

A lovely Painted Redstart was visiting its nest in the bank of the Middle Fork of Cave Creek Canyon, just next to the cabin as we worked. Lizards were scurrying about. May they survive what's coming.

Painted Redstart (Acrylic by Narca)

The Horseshoe Fire

All of my fellow Portaleños, as well as the birding community, are following closely the development of the Horseshoe Fire, here in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeast Arizona. As of Saturday night, May 29, just over 1200 acres have burned in the heart of the Chiricahua Wilderness.

Horseshoe Fire at 2 AM, May 30, a 30-second exposure 

(Photos by Steve Cullen/Light Buckets)

And a 10-second exposure, both taken 10 miles from the fire

At last night's community meeting, fire supervisors told us that this promises to be a very difficult, very large fire, which will most likely burn until the monsoon rains arrive. If the fire burns to the perimeter line that firefighters hope to establish, it will be as large as 35,000 - 40,000 acres. (For comparison, the huge 1994 Rattlesnake Fire, which burned for a month, covered 29,000 acres.)

A team specializing in Type 1 fires––the most challenging––is here with 700 firefighters, including 19 Hot Shot teams. In all of the US there are 100 Hot Shot teams, so the commitment of nearly 20% of the nation's most proficient fighters of wildland fires indicates how seriously the fire experts are regarding the Horseshoe Fire. The Type 1 team here in Portal also responded to 9/11 in New York City.

The combination of terrain, fuel load and weather conditions makes this fire so difficult to handle––in the US, the fire supervisors told us, the Chiricahuas present as rugged a terrain as it's possible to find.

Fire perimeters have to be drawn so that the segments all connect to ring the fire. Given our rough terrain, it was impossible to make the perimeter any smaller. In steep, narrow canyons, flaming brands "jump" from one side of the canyon to the other, and so, in that situation, fire defeats all efforts to contain it.

Even after our good winter rains and snow pack, the moisture load of down fuels––logs etc––is low at only 6%. (Lumber for building usually has twice that moisture content.) However, the living trees are well hydrated and should withstand fire better than is often the case here. We hope to see a mostly low-intensity, mosaic burn which would benefit the habitat. We fear a high-intensity, stand-replacing, uncontrollable conflagration.

Fire supervisors see no way of keeping the fire out of South Fork, a major branch of Cave Creek Canyon renowned for its extraordinary biodiversity. To lower the impact, firefighters will concentrate on manipulating the fire when possible to lower its intensity, and thus avoid as much as possible the catastrophic, stand-replacing holocaust we experienced with the Rattlesnake (when fire burned from Methodist Camp all the way to the top at Rustler Park in 2 to 3 hours). Another goal is to protect the old growth riparian corridor along South Fork. Team members are very aware of its high biological value.

The fire investigators told us that the Horseshoe Fire was human-caused, and that it is virtually certain that illegal immigrants are responsible, once again. It began at Burro Springs, near the ridge between Horseshoe and South Fork Canyons. Deep frustrations were expressed at the meeting over the entire situation involving both illegal immigration and drug smuggling, and the suffering experienced by the border communities, which bear the brunt of a failed immigration policy and of the passage of many thousands of illegal entrants, in the form of fire ignitions, damage to pristine habitats, home break-ins, assaults, ambushes between rival cartels, and one recent murder. But that is another subject indeed....

Portal itself, while located right on the fire perimeter line, is in no imminent danger. Unfortunately, all of the homes up canyon from Portal fall inside the perimeter. For the moment, the American Museum of Natural History's Southwest Research Station is not in danger. Much depends on what the winds do during this coming month or two, and upon when the rains come––if they come. (Last year the monsoon essentially didn't come, and summer drought was intense.)

Two nights ago I drove with Gary Rosenberg and his group to go owling in the high Chiricahuas. Returning from Onion Saddle, we were sobered and deeply impressed by the expanse of twinkling hotspots spread beneath us, where trees stood as torches in the night, and the full moon rode above the wrack of smoke. Sleeping was difficult for me that night. It is hard to see this treasured canyon go through a crisis of these proportions, and to know that the research station and so many homes (including our own) are under threat. Yesterday as we helped friends to evacuate their cabin above the research station, a pair of Elegant Trogons was coming and going from their nest cavity, their home also in grave danger.

Elegant Trogon in South Fork (Watercolor by Narca)

My sadness lifted a little when I remembered a grassland fire that Alan and I helped to fight in 1992 on the Gray Ranch. After the fire was under control, I walked back through smoking stubs of bunch grasses, and a single Grasshopper Sparrow hopped up onto a still-smoldering grass-snag in the midst of the black desolation, and began to sing.

Swainson's Thrush, a Distinguished Visitor

As the main migration season winds down here in southern Arizona, the later migrants (some of them only infrequently encountered) can put in an appearance. White-rumped Sandpipers, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Thick-billed Kingbirds, Blue Grosbeaks and Varied Buntings all tend to lag the other arrivals. Today Alan spotted a regular but very scarce migrant, which came to our yard for a sip of water: a Swainson's Thrush!

The buffy spectacle and lack of rust in the tail help to rule out the similar Hermit Thrush, a much more common resident of the Chiricahua Mountains.

Swainson's Thrush in Portal AZ (Photos by Narca)

Over the past 15 years while working in the bootheel of New Mexico, Alan and I have only encountered Swainson's Thrushes on four occasions, twice while banding at Clanton Cienaga. They seem to move through the region during a narrow window of time, from about May 11 through about May 31. That's now, so ¡ojo! –– keep your eyes open!

Granola Time

After a long stint of guiding three Big Bend tours, followed by local guiding around Portal, I'm finally settling back into being home. A sure sign of settling is taking the time to cook one of my favorite breakfasts: homemade granola. And, in a complete departure from the usual subjects of this blog, here for you (drumroll) is a marvelous recipe, first given to me 40 years ago in Oregon, and gradually modified––maybe even perfected––since then.

Mix:
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup coconut
1 cup sliced almonds and/or chopped pecans

Mix:
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup honey or agave nectar
1/2 cup water

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients; add cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon almond extract; and mix. Place on a large, oiled (using sesame oil) or nonstick cookie sheet at 300º for about a half hour. Turn over a couple of times while browning.

Wow! And it's especially good topped with sliced peaches or nectarines. Now fortified, I'll think about writing some posts for you of recent encounters with marvelous birds and beasts.