Selected Fires from 2006

Day Fire, Bar Complex, Hancock Fire, Hunter Fire, Somes Fire, Ralston Fire, Titus Fire, Rush Fire, Uncles Fire, Boulder Complex, Bassetts Fire, Panther Fire

Note that almost all the acreage burned in these fires was on national forest system lands. Additionally, approximately 1/3 of the area burned is not forestland - trees don't grow there. Based upon the forestland alone, most of the burned area for these fires is in wilderness or wild and scenic river areas where reforestation work is not allowed and natural recovery must take place. Some of the approximately 50,000 acres now in a deforested condition will not recover to the same vegetation type but will convert to shrubland or perhaps grassland for the next several decades. Eventually these lands may return to a tree covered condition.

Outside of the wilderness and wild and scenic areas, approximately 26,000 acres will be considered for assisted recovery work. Assisted recovery work is any of a set of human activities that assist the natural recovery of trees. This work is done in order to restore the forest to a more natural condition as quickly as possible and to minimize the potential for invasive vegetation to move into the burned area. Treatments to the deforested areas will vary depending upon the location and the desired outcomes, but the goal of any recovery work is to quickly restore the forest's ability to provide the types of resources and values that people have come to expect from their forests. These resources and values include clean air and water, recreational opportunities, wildlife habitat, and scenic beauty; however, without reforestation, all of these values may be at risk.