Members of the Utah Prescribed Fire Council spent a day in the Upper Provo Canyon on Monday walking through nearly two decades of forest treatment work, examining how prescribed fire and other mitigation methods are helping protect and restore landscapes in the Wasatch Back. The field trip, host ed along the Mirror Lake Highway by the Heber-Kamas Ranger District of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, brought together more than 40 participants from agencies, universities, fire departments and environmental organizations to discuss one increasingly urgent conversation across the West: how to live with fire before catastrophic wildfire forces the issue. Attendees included representatives from the U.S. Forest Service, Utah State University, Park City Fire District, the Utah Division of Air Quality, Deer Valley Resort, Summit County, Park City and several watershed and wildlife organizations. The event had been years in the making, postponed in 2024 because of the Yellow Lake Fire and in 2025 because of a federal government shutdown. The gathering focused on the Ponderosa prescribed fire project and surrounding mitigation work in the Upper Provo drainage, where crews have spent years trying to make the watershed more resilient to wildfire. “I’ve been working up here since 2005,” said Riley Bergseng, deputy fire staff officer for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. He’s spent most of his career working on these fuels reduction projects. “They say if you want to effectively treat a watershed, it’s 40 to 60% of that watershed needs to be treated. You will never achieve it because you’re always maintaining it. … The goal is really to get to where we’re not doing new acres, we’re maintaining acres.” At a handful of treatment sites, Bergseng discussed the range of tools they’ve used, including mastication, lop-and-scatter treatments, pile burning and broadcast burns. Participants repeatedly emphasized that this work is not a one-time solution but an ongoing maintenance effort meant to restore forests that historically relied on fire. “These are fire-dependent ecosystems, and they evolve largely because of fire,” said J. Bradley Washa, assistant professor of wildland fire science at Utah State University, who organized the day. “Management wise, we’re trying to simulate that in some regards.” Take aspen stands, for example. Aspen are the second to riparian areas in Utah as the most biodiverse ecosystem. It’s also a fire-dependent species, meaning it relies on fire to stimulate growth and revitalize a stand.  Naturally, conifer trees will take over aspen stands, but then when a fire comes through, the more resilient aspen survives while the conifer burns, an ebb and flow that restores the natural balance. Attendees on the Utah Prescribed Fire Council field trip overlook an area in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest where land managers have completed fuels reduction work. Credit: Photo courtesy of J. Bradley Washa But since land managers have suppressed fires on the landscape, the aspen are struggling. “The impact that we’ve seen across Utah and other western states is we’re starting to lose our aspen because we’re fighting only on one side,” said Kelsha Anderson, forest supervisor for the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. A recurring analogy likened the nation’s forests to a puppy people are desperately trying to save — you’re holding on to that puppy, you’re saving them, but you’re strangling them at the same time.  Forest officials described how decades of aggressive wildfire suppression have allowed trees and undergrowth to become unnaturally dense. That buildup of vegetation can create more intense wildfires that burn hotter, spread faster and threaten watersheds, wildlife habitat and nearby communities. The Yellow Lake Fire, though more helpful than destructive over its 33,000 acres burned, cost more than $35 million in suppression efforts alone, according to Ken Verboncoeur, a deputy district ranger for the U.S. Forest Service. Now, additional millions are being spent on rehabilitation, reforestation and disaster recovery work. So the issue isn’t just a forest health conversation, it’s a money conversation.  “Wildland fire is very expensive,” said Verboncoeur. “Prescribed fire happens to be the cheapest treatment factor that we have.” That economic reality is becoming a larger driver behind federal directives to increase mitigation work across public lands. Forest managers explained that although treatments like thinning and prescribed burns require upfront planning, staffing and funding, they are far less expensive than large-scale wildfire suppression and post-fire recovery. Still, funding for projects like these remains one of the largest obstacles.  Bergseng described forest management as incremental and often difficult to measure in the short term. Crews may spend years thinning trees and preparing landscapes before seeing the results during a wildfire event. “Even if you don’t feel like you’re successful, most of the time you will be,” he said. “It’s just little bites, little bites, and then when you have the big (fire), it’s like, ‘Dang it, it actually worked.’” Officials pointed to areas affected by the Yellow Lake Fire where previous fuels treatments appeared to slow fire behavior and help protect portions of the watershed. It’s one of the main reasons forest leaders have been able to partner with the Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative to help secure funding for ongoing land management projects.  Of course, for the Utah Prescribed Fire Council, much of the conversation revolved around how to get more fire on the ground in healthy ways. While prescribed fire can still carry risks, Anderson explained that planned burns allow agencies to prepare for impacts in a controlled setting rather than reacting to uncontrolled wildfire conditions. “The potential for us to maintain that infrastructure and maintain continuous, sustainable operations … is much higher if we plan to do the work versus waiting for Mother Nature,” she said. One of the main challenges of conducting prescribed fire work in the Wasatch Back is growing development and recreation. The Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest is considered an urban forest, and with the second-most annual visitors across all national forests, these treatments require more planning and precision than in remote areas. More recently public understanding has improved, officials said, and they’ve seen less resistance to prescribed fire projects than in previous decades. Sportsmen and hunting groups, in particular, have become strong supporters after seeing improvements in wildlife habitat. Still, smoke remains one of the most visible impacts for residents and recreationists. Fire managers said part of their long-term goal is helping the public become more accustomed to seeing intentional fire and smoke on the landscape. It’s why Verboncoeur said collaborative gatherings like the one on Monday are essential in shaping how land managers prepare for fire seasons like this one. “Creative thinking and working together can certainly make an impact for us going forward,” he said. The post Land managers take stock of fire in the Wasatch Back appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less