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On August 7th, 2013 twelve miles northeast of Fairfield, Idaho (Moore, 2013) and northwest of Hailey, Idaho (“Beaver Creek Fire”, InciWeb) in Sawtooth National Park, the Beaver Creek Fire began due to a lighting strike (Henkel, 2013). The fire burned through acres upon acres of sage trees, pine trees (“Beaver Creek Fire: Some Residents Being Let Back in on Pre-evacuation Orders”, KTVB), sagebrush, timber in the understory, grass, various riparian areas and other types of timber (“Beaver Creek Fire”, InciWeb). The fire coated the resort areas of Hailey and Ketchum, Idaho known as the “Sun Valley” in a layer of thick soot and ash (“Beaver Creek Fire: Some Residents Being Let Back in on Pre-evacuation Orders”, KTVB). By the time the fire was one-hundred percent contained on August 31st, 114,900 acres of the Ketchum Ranger District of Sawtooth National Forest has been burned (Beaver Creek BAER, InciWeb). Of the 114,900 acres burned, 57,000 acres were moderately damaged and 9,500 acres were severely damaged (Murri, 2013).

=Science= The behavior of fire depends on weather, fuel, and topographic information (Page et al, 2007), which means these factors in the ecosystem determined the behavior of the Beaver Creek Fire. In the Beaver Creek ecosystem fire is part of its disturbance regime, and the Beaver Creek area is a disturbance dependent ecosystem. Being a disturbance dependent ecosystem means for native animals and plants to the ecosystem that the plants and animals adapted to the disturbance and depend on the disturbance for them to begin reproduction. For example, plants in fire related disturbance dependent ecosystems can have serotiny, or they have a resin over their seeds, when the fire comes through it melts the resin and allows the seed to begin growing. Other methods native plants use to survive the fire is timed germination, where a plant will begin growing once the ground is heated to a certain temperature by a fire, and resource allocation, meaning that the plant can disperse its seeds in a large area so that some of the plants will be able to reproduce and not be affected by the fire. Another example is animals will not reproduce until a fire has come through because then they know it is safe to reproduce, this is called reproductive timing. Animals also can smell or sense a fire coming so can either escape or hide to survive the fire. In the area where the Beaver Creek Fire took place, lodge pole pine trees and juniper trees are just two plants in the ecosystem that are fire dependent (“Wildfire and Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise).

In any ecosystem, especially a disturbance dependent ecosystem, fire is very beneficial. Fire can increase soil nutrients, increase resource availability, decrease competition, decrease soil microorganisms, and control invasive species. If no fire occurs for an extended period of time, plants can begin to crowd out other plants, sagebrush and grasses in the Beaver Creek Fire area, and cause habitat loss, for birds such as sage grouse. Fire acts as a cleansing agent because “by burning dead trees and other vegetation along with the crowded plants and trees (“Wildfire and the Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise)” allows more space for new growth, along with the fire signaling new growth to begin. The best type of fire for cleansing an ecosystem is a slow moving fire that burns few trees and lots of ground vegetation. These types of fires usually produce a “mosaic pattern”, not all trees and vegetation is burned so that there is a good mixture between new growth and fully matured plants (“Wildfire and the Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise).

Fire, though usually beneficial to ecosystems, can have negative effects on ecosystems as well. Fire can present the opportunity for noxious and invasive plants to take over. Invasive plants can compete with native plants for water and soil causing the death of the native plants. The death of native plants then leads to a loss of habitat and less food for native animals causing their populations to shrink (“Wildfire and Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise). Invasive plants can also affect the growth and spread rate of wildfires based on the invasive plant’s moisture content, location, and type of fuel (Brooks, 2004). An example of an invasive species in the area of the Beaver Creek Fire is cheat grass. Cheat grass sprouts before Idaho’s native plants, thus taking growth area away from native plants and habitat away from native animals. Cheat grass affects fires in the area because it grows in a continuous bed of grass, unlike the local grasses that grow in patches, which can be burned through more rapidly than native grass causing faster moving fires (“Wildfire and Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise).

Invasive species can affect fire behavior as well. The area of the Beaver Creek Fire is known to be infested with Mountain Pine Beetles. Mountain Pine Beetles latch on to trees eat the tree’s bark and lay their eggs inside the tree, which kills the tree. Trees that were able to reseed grow and the attack process of the beetles begins again. The mortality caused by the Mountain Pine Beetles to the trees increases fire hazard in the area and causes more high intensity fires. The more trees that the Mountain Pine Beetle kills the more large woody fuel falls to the ground, which causes increased fire intensity and severity. It is a proven fact the Mountain Pine Beetles have an increasing effect on the fire spread and fire intensity. The first few years after the destruction from the beetle is the time period when large amounts of fine dead fuels are present and woody fuels that produces the highest intensity and sever fires (Page et al, 2007). Wind speed and land slope, like a mountain where the Beaver Creek Fire took place, influences fire behavior, specifically fire spread. Wind makes fire grow faster (Greg, 2013). As wind speed increase, the spread of the fire increases more quickly (Beer, 1990) and can help increase the intensity of the fire (Page et al, 2007). Fire can even create some of its own wind to disperse the heat downward from the heart of the flame to the unburnt fuel ahead of the fire, which helps in the rate of spread of the fire and increases the longevity of the fire (Beer, 1990). Some argue that the increase in the spread rate of the fire from the windy conditions has to do with the increased oxygen supply in the fire. Others argue that this is not true because of the fact that fires need a sufficient amount of oxygen to even start (Beer, 1990). Without wind, it is easier to stop a fire due to the fire not being pushed forward (Moore, 2013). Slope of land increases the spread of fire only and not the intensity. The reason for this is gravity pushes the fire down so that the area in front of the fire is heated up quicker and able to burn faster allowing the fire to burn more area in a period of time up a slope, even without wind, than just on flat ground (Beer, 1990).

The Beaver Creek Fire was a large fire, larger than the past fires in the same area (“Beaver Creek Fire Public Information Map”, InciWeb). Large fires that burn many acres usually occur in hot, dry temperatures where there is intense build – up of vegetation. Where there is more vegetation build – up, there is more fuel for a fire. These large fires are usually difficult to suppress, are fast moving, and replace lots of animals (“Wildfire and Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise). In the beginning of the Beaver Creek Fire, the conditions in the area were dry, windy, low humidity, and a fairly hot temperature, which causes more active fires (“Beaver Creek Fire: Some Residents Being Let Back in on Pre-evacuations Orders”, KTVB). Along with these factors and the fact that the area of the Beaver Creek Fire is a disturbance dependent ecosystem that was in its season where natural fires usually occurred caused the Beaver Creek Fire to grow to be the large, mainly, surface fire it became. With the combination of weather, fuel, and topography that the Beaver Creek Fire took place in, it was hard to stop. Not until humidity increased, some rainstorms began to take place, and cloud cover appeared in the area was the Beaver Creek Fire able to be drastically slowed and contained (“Beaver Creek Fire: Some Residents Being Let Back in on Pre-evacuation Orders”, KTVB).

=Effect=

Human
Not only nature affects the fire or is affected by the fire. Many areas had to be evacuated due to the fire as it approached populated areas. The fire was also fought by thousands of firefighters and some groups of specialized firefighters, called hot shots. Hot Shots are groups brought in to an area to contain a wildfire (Henkel, 2013). Eight helicopters with buckets attached filled with water mixed with a retardant that stopped fire were used (Moore, 2013) to contain the fire, along with helitankers, helicopters with a built in container for water. Humans fighting the fire tried to contain the fire and prevent “slop over”, where the fire crosses a control line to an unburned side. To do this, lines of trees were cleared or “sawcut” so the fire had less fuel to use and by digging a fire line down into the mineral soil so the fire would stop whenever it reached the ditch (Henkel, 2013). Firefighters even used the paths of past wildfires to help slow down the Beaver Creek Fire (“Fighting Fire with Fire to Save Idaho Resort”, Wall Street Journal). They accomplished this by forcing the fire towards the boundary of the past fire and into a natural barrier (“Beaver Creek Fire Public Information Map”, InciWeb). The last resort to stop the fire implemented by humans was the Governor of Idaho, Butch Otter, who declared the Beaver Creek Fire a state disaster area on August 14th. This allowed the area more financial funds to find the fire and more human resources, such as firefighters (Moore, 2013).

Nature
The Beaver Creek Fire first and foremost gave new vegetation more room to grow and more access to sunlight for new trees, and it began the growing process for fire dependent plants. Grass will be the first to regrow and will begin to bring back wildlife (“Wildfire and Idaho Landscape”, Idaho Fire Wise). The fire had a variety of effects on animals. During the fire the larger animals were able to easily escape from the fire, but the smaller animals could not. Many of the small burrowing mammals probably could not survive the intense heat of the Beaver Creek Fire or the smoke and died. Even if the fire wipes out a species though, it is only a time before the species will return to the area. Some animals will benefit from the fire like the elk will benefit from the new growth after the fire giving them food and wasp and beetles will benefit because they can plant there eggs in the burned stumps for example. The ecosystem will return to maximum capacity after time, it is what disturbance dependent ecosystems do. First the insects will return, followed by the birds, and then the mammals (Moore, 2013). Another after fact of the fire that could occur is the invasion of Douglas – Fir Beetles. They can cause “undesired amounts of tree mortality” after a fire has taken place. The area where the Beaver Creek Fire took place is known for having this type of beetle, these beetles infested the area of the Castle Rock Fire. The beetles to “attack” must be in adult stage at the end of the fire and there must be sufficient bark left to deposit their eggs. The outbreak of the Douglas – Fir Beetles usually last up to 3 – 6 years, due to the fact the beetles will be attacking an area where there was a recent fire the “attack” could be prolonged (Lazarus, 2010).

=History= The area where the Beaver Creek Fire took place has a history of fires. The Castle Rock Fire took place in 2007 near this area and before that in 2001 the Sage Fire. The Beaver Creek Fire was easily the biggest of these three (“Beaver Creek Fire Public Information Map”, InciWeb). The Beaver Creek Fire is extremely similar to the Castle Rock Fire. The Castle Rock Fire was started by lightning, exactly like the Beaver Creek Fire. Both fires began around the same time the Castle Rock Fire began August 16th and the Beaver Creek Fire began August 7th. Neither fire destroyed any structures or killed any people as well. The Castle Rock fire has differences to from the Beaver Creek Fire. The main difference being the Castle Rock Fire only burnt 48,520 acres (Kauffman, 2007). Despite this difference both fires affected their ecosystem in similar ways and will use similar recovery methods.

=Recovery= As soon as the fire ended, a Burned Area Emergency Response, BAER, team was sent to analysis the area of the Beaver Creek Fire. A BAER team consists of “specialists in conducting rapid watershed assessments and analyses, soil scientists, hydrologists, geologists, biologists, geographic information system specialists, archeologists, botanists, silviculturists, and civil engineers”. The team will go in to determine what areas were most severely affected by the fire, what emergency conditions exist, and what emergency response action should be taken. After this report of the area is taken, the BAER team may recommend rapid reseeding of the area, enlarging or unplugging culverts to drain water, removing structures that could block water flow, trap sediment, or impact water quality, or to post certain warning signs, barriers, or closures to limit hazardous area access (“Beaver Creek BAER”, InciWeb). Currently, the main recovery goals is to get the water off the trails as quickly as possible and to be hazard signs along the road and trails (Kauffman, 2007). Erosion control is the next big goal. The goal is for erosion control to be implemented before the first big rainfall to, hopefully, stop mudslides from burying roads and private property. Erosion and mudslides are the biggest after fire dangers and can last 3 – 5 years (Murri, 2013). Other plans for recovery include placing straw waddles down as erosion barriers, using bulldozers for reseeding, aerial dropping straw and mulch on intensely burned hillsides for drainage purposes, using log stabilizers to stop erosion, cleaning out and removing some culverts on the roads and adding over 1,000 new drainage structures to the trails impacted by the fire (Kauffman, 2007).

=References=

"Beaver Creek Fire." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Beaver Creek Fire. InciWeb Incident Information Systems, 3 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

"Beaver Creek Fire Public Infomation Map." Map. InciWeb. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1. Print.

"Beaver Creek Fire: Some Residents Being Let Back in on Pre-evacuation Orders." KTVB.COM. N.p., 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Beer, Tom. "The Interaction of Wind and Fire." Boundary-Layer Meteorology 57.3 (191): 287-308. Web.

Brooks, Matthew L., Carla M. D'Antonio, David M. Richardson, James B. Grace, Jon E. Keeley, Joseph M. DiTomaso, Richard J. Hobbs, Mike Pellant, and David Pyke. "Effects of Invasive Alien Plants on Fire Regimes." BioScience 54.7 (2004): 677-88. Print.

Conrad, C. Eugene, and Charles E. Poulton. "Effect of a Wildfire on Idaho Fescue and Bluebrunch Wheatgrass." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

"Fighting Fire with Fire to Save Idaho Resort." The Wall Street Journal. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Henkel, Al. "Facing the Flames with a Hotshot Crew: Inside the Beaver Creek Fire." NBC News. N.p., 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

"InciWeb - Incident Information System." InciWeb the Incident Information System: Beaver Creek BAER. InciWeb, 18 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Kauffman, Jason. "Fire Recovery Cost Put at $2.25 Million." Idaho Mountain Express. N.p., 28 Sept. 2007. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Keeley, Jon E., and C.J. Fotheringham. "Historic Fire Regime in Southern California Shrublands." Conservation Biology 15.6 (2001): 1536-548. California Chaparral Institute. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Keeley, Jon E., and C.J. Fotheringham. "The Historical Role of Fires in California Shrubland." Conservation Biology 15 (2001): 1536-548. USGS Western Ecological Research Center. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Keeley, Jon E. "Fire Management Impacts on Invasive Plant Species in the Western United States." Conservation Biology 20 (2006): 375-84. USGS Western Ecological Research Center. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Lazarus, Laura L. "Bark Beetle Considerations for Forested Areas Affected by Castle Rock Wildfire." U.S. Forest Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2013. Moore, Greg. "Idaho Mountain Express: Beaver Creek Fire Still Moving North - August 14, 2013." Beaver Creek Fire Still Moving North - August 14, 2013. Idaho Mountain Express, 14 Aug. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Moore, Greg. "Idaho Mountain Express: Big-game Animals Should Survive Fire - August 21, 2013." Idaho Mountain Express: Big-game Animals Should Survive Fire - August 21, 2013. Idaho Mountain Express, 21 Aug. 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.

Murri, Jessica. "Mountain Express: BAER Team Assesses Post-Fire Treatment Options and There Aren't Many." Boise Weekly. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Murri, Jessica. "Post-Fire Damage Study." Boise Weekly. N.p., 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Oskin, Becky. "Fighting Fires: You're Doing It Wrong." LiveScience.com. N.p., 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

Page, Wesley, and Michael J. Jenkins. "Predicted Fire Behavior in Selected Mountain Pine Beetle Infestee Lodgepoll Pine." Forest Science 53.6 (2007): 662-74. Web.

Patton, W. Wayne. "Burned Area Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitaion Plan." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. N.p., 15 Aug. 2003. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.

"Wildfire and the Idaho Landscape." Idaho FireWise. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2013.