Grand Canyon National Park Fire Ecology Annual Report Calendar Year 2020
Engbring M and Brannfors L. 2021. Grand Canyon National Park Fire Ecology Annual Report Calendar Year 2020. National Park Service. Grand Canyon, AZ
A summary of fire ecology activities and program information for the Park/network including fire effects plot workload, staffing, management objectives and monitoring results, and planning, fire monitoring, communications, and research. Also included are staff accomplishments/areas of focus, future program direction and other optional information (e.g. data analysis graphics or presentations, annual highlights, publications, program challenges, unique solutions to problems, collaboration, photographs of monitoring/fire activities, and suggestions on FFI). The 2020 season again brought turnover in every position other than the Lead Monitor for the Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) Fire Ecology Program. A new Fire Ecologist, Matt Engbring, started work March 15, interfacing with the Lead and getting acquainted with the program before the field season began. The permanent Assistant Lead Monitor position remained vacant, but an experienced temporary GS-6 employee was hired to fill the role, along with two new seasonal crewmembers. A global pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus and its corresponding COVID-19 illness began to have impacts in March in the United States and had far-reaching and long-lasting consequences within every part of work and personal life. Within a week of the North Rim re-opening from COVID closure, the largest wildfire in the history of the Kaibab Plateau caused visitor evacuations and re-closure of the North Rim. The driest monsoon season ever recorded in the Southwest combined with the longest time ever spent in severity locally and Level 5 fire preparedness nationally to keep everyone on edge virtually all year. Even in the face of these challenges, the crew monitored 29 Fire Monitoring Handbook (FMH) plots at GRCA (Table 5); 13 combination FMH-Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) plots at Walnut Canyon National Monument (WACA) (Table 6); and 20 FMH plots at Saguaro National Park (SAGU). With a relatively light year for plotwork in this program, crewmembers got the opportunity to work on several wildfires both locally and nationally. Ultimately it proved to be a diverse, successful, and rewarding year, if a bit non-standard.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Engbring, Matthew; Brannfors, Li
- Date of Issue
- 2021-01-29
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- FIEC , GRCA , WACA
- Keywords
- Arizona, Biota, Burn Severity, CBI, Colorado Plateau, Ecology, Environment, FFI, Fire, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, FMH, Fuels, Grand Canyon, I&M, Inventory And Monitoring, Kaibab Plateau, Monitoring, Prescribed Fire, RAP, rapid assessment, Severity, Southern Colorado Plateau Network, Vegetation, Walnut Canyon, Wildfire
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Fire and Fuel Dynamics | Fire and Fuel Dynamics