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Entrance road fuel break
Natural Bridges National Monument » Entrance road fuel break » Document List
Natural Bridges National Monument is accessed by a 5-mile long, 400' wide road corridor that traverses BLM managed lands. The road is bordered by pinyon-juniper woodland, with continuous canopy occasionally interrupted by areas of rock outcrop, bare soil, or shrubs. Employees and the visiting public have no other means of entrance and egress to the park, so safety as well as infrastructure protection is potentially threatened by wildland fire.
To reduce wildland fire hazard, the National Park Service proposes to thin pinyon-juniper along the road corridor. The project would reduce the potential of a crown fire spreading from adjacent BLM lands. Thinning would provide safety zones along the entrance road, and safer egress from monument lands in case of wildland fire.
Work would be conducted at three heavily fueled zones along the corridor, encompassing about 176 acres, by hand crews using chainsaws. Trees would be thinned to an average 20-foot crown spacing. Stumps would be cut as close to the ground as practicable and in no case greater than four inches on the high side.
Slash generated by the project would be piled on site, for burning later during the cool season. Piles would be located at least 30 feet from the entrance road or outside park boundary, well away from residual tree boles and crowns and on areas of bare soil and/or dead plant litter as much as possible; piling on slickrock surface would be avoided to prevent long-term fire scars. Piles would would range from 3 to 5 feet in diameter and height.
Larger branches and trunks (6-inch small-end diameter and larger) would be bucked into 18-24" lengths for use as firewood. This wood would be collected and hauled to an identified location near Maverick Point, then be disposed of to the public via a special use permit process shortly after the fuel reduction contract is completed (under 16 USC 3 authority).
Slash piles would be burned by NPS fire crew during the following winter. The crew would burn only under optimum fuel, soil, weather, and smoke dispersal conditions as stated in the project burn plan prescription and smoke permit parameters form the Utah Division of Air Quality.
To avoid trampling soil crusts, crews would walk in single file, retrace established routes, and avoid making new trails whenever possible.
All work would be staged from designated parking areas along the road corridor. There would be no roadside parking and no ATV use in conjunction with the contract.
Saw crews would seek to avoid spilling gasoline and bar oil in the staging area and in all work zones, but would have spill cleanup kits.
An archeological site inventory has already been completed to meet compliance requirements. Sensitive features such as archeological sites would be flagged for non-treatment.
Work would be overseen by an on-site Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and an NPS archeologist to prevent resource damage.
To reduce wildland fire hazard, the National Park Service proposes to thin pinyon-juniper along the road corridor. The project would reduce the potential of a crown fire spreading from adjacent BLM lands. Thinning would provide safety zones along the entrance road, and safer egress from monument lands in case of wildland fire.
Work would be conducted at three heavily fueled zones along the corridor, encompassing about 176 acres, by hand crews using chainsaws. Trees would be thinned to an average 20-foot crown spacing. Stumps would be cut as close to the ground as practicable and in no case greater than four inches on the high side.
Slash generated by the project would be piled on site, for burning later during the cool season. Piles would be located at least 30 feet from the entrance road or outside park boundary, well away from residual tree boles and crowns and on areas of bare soil and/or dead plant litter as much as possible; piling on slickrock surface would be avoided to prevent long-term fire scars. Piles would would range from 3 to 5 feet in diameter and height.
Larger branches and trunks (6-inch small-end diameter and larger) would be bucked into 18-24" lengths for use as firewood. This wood would be collected and hauled to an identified location near Maverick Point, then be disposed of to the public via a special use permit process shortly after the fuel reduction contract is completed (under 16 USC 3 authority).
Slash piles would be burned by NPS fire crew during the following winter. The crew would burn only under optimum fuel, soil, weather, and smoke dispersal conditions as stated in the project burn plan prescription and smoke permit parameters form the Utah Division of Air Quality.
To avoid trampling soil crusts, crews would walk in single file, retrace established routes, and avoid making new trails whenever possible.
All work would be staged from designated parking areas along the road corridor. There would be no roadside parking and no ATV use in conjunction with the contract.
Saw crews would seek to avoid spilling gasoline and bar oil in the staging area and in all work zones, but would have spill cleanup kits.
An archeological site inventory has already been completed to meet compliance requirements. Sensitive features such as archeological sites would be flagged for non-treatment.
Work would be overseen by an on-site Contracting Officer's Representative (COR) and an NPS archeologist to prevent resource damage.