In the wake of the devastating Rodeo-Chediski forest fire of last July, the White Mountain Apache tribe of Northeast Arizona requested federal aid to help restore the 276,512 acres of burnt reservation lands ravaged by the largest wildfire in state history. A special technical team called the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team was organized to construct a comprehensive recovery plan for the region, that fits into established guidelines for the protection of the environment, endangered species, and archaeological sites. The plan was put together by soil conservationists, foresters, geologists, natural resource personnel, hydrologists, archaeologists, and biologists in cooperation with Bureau of Indian Affairs officials and members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe. The BAER plan is expected to be a three-year process with a $10 million budget.
The White Mountain Apache Tribe of northeast Arizona occupies 1.6 million acres of land; its members are the direct descendants of the original indigenous groups that lived in the area. Historically nomadic, the White Mountain Apache now occupy permanent homes and rely on livestock, agriculture, tourism and various tribal enterprises, like a timber mill and re-manufacturing plant, for their livelihoods. The tribe has over 12,000 members, who live in nine major reservation communities. The White Mountain Apache have always been intimately tied to the lands they have lived on, making the damage inflicted by last summer’s inferno all the more devastating. They are now facing the fallout of the widespread destruction of last summer’s raging fires, which threatened their lives, their economic welfare and their ancient relationship to the land itself.
Indian Country Today reports that rehabilitation efforts for burnt land began almost immediately after the fire was ignited and continue today. After BAER’s initial evaluation, it was determined that flooding in the burnt area would be larger and faster during the monsoon season, and immediate actions would have to be taken. The BAER plan separates the damaged land into three categories: fire-related, suppression-related, and watershed-related areas. It is particularly concerned with flooding and soil erosion in these areas until vegetation can grow back in the spring. BAER also established an early flood warning system through the Remote Automated Weather Stations that watch over 11 communities.
The erratic burn pattern of the fire has left many trees still standing, but most are victims of intense heat and are mortally wounded. To help recover economically and eventually restore the land to its former health, the White Mountain Apache Tribe has decided to open its land to some of the nation’s biggest logging companies. Sierra Pacific Industries of Anderson, California, and TCB Construction of Poplarville, Missouri, beat out their competitors by proposing the use of helicopter logging that will prevent erosion of fragile burnt soils; they also underbid other companies. Although logging companies usually face a great deal of red tape in order to work on Indian reservations, the unusual circumstances greased the wheels for the agreement. The huge amount of acreage destroyed by the fire and the resulting downward economic spiral of the tribe made the unprecedented arrangement almost urgent.
The first priority of the tribe is stabilizing the land, but its current unsecured economic state has led the tribe to sell parts of the salvage land to loggers, including about 240 million board feet of lumber. Small tree remains will also create equity because they can be sold and produced into railroad ties, wood blocks for highway railings, and other items. Saw dust can also be used to treat the lands or shipped to other venues. The tribe’s own logging company, the Port Apache Timber Company, will also be logging part of the burnt area where there are smaller logs. Three helicopters are currently operating in the area, and the logging companies will bring in at least 11 more in the future. All recoverable timber will be logged from 29,000 acres of charred land within two years, but damaged soil and flooding will continue to be an area of concern for the tribe.
