The Slink Fire rages on in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Area. Meanwhile, pilots fly an imaginary line to drop water on wildfires according to wilderness laws and procedures. This raises the question, are wilderness firefighting laws protecting or harming wilderness areas?
Wilderness Fir
efighting Laws
Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964 to minimize human impacts and preserve wilderness. For example, the act limits and/or prohibits motorized vehicles in wilderness. See 16 U.S.C. 1131(a). Additionally, it requires minimized human impacts from firefighting . One exception is the use of aircraft. Aircraft may be used as necessary to control fire. P.L. 88-577 § 4(d)(1). However, the act applies conditions even to this use. Id.
Later wilderness laws echoed protective policies. The Endangered American Wilderness Act of 1978 directed the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to implement fire prevention and watershed protection. See P.L. 95-237 §§ 2(c)-(d). The Secretaries were required to create special fire suppression measures and techniques. Id. The California Wilderness Act of 1984 included similar language. The Act created the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness and extended firefighting restrictions to it. See P.L. 98-425 § 103(b)(2).
Firefighting Restrictions in Practice
How are these provisions applied in practice? In the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness Area, impacts are minimized by restricting the place of water use. Firefighters must take water and use it in the same watershed. In smaller wilderness areas, these restrictions are moot. However, in the Carson-Iceberg, unique challenges are presented to firefighting crews.
As of Thursday, September 10, 2020, the Slink Fire raged over 22,474 acres.[1] The fire spanned across three watersheds: the Carson Watershed, the Silver King Watershed, and the Walker Watershed. Don Zirbel, of the Clackamas Fire District, provided a community update. He noted that fire crews are struggling with restrictions for “crossing lines” during aerial water drops. These restrictions require pilots to take water from a watershed and drop it on fire only within the same watershed. He also noted that multiple water “dip” cites were located within each of the three watersheds, so these restrictions did not hamper ground crews or helicopters from accessing and using the needed water. This is not always the case.
Regardless, the update started a heated public debate on whether wilderness firefighitng laws are hindering or helping the integrity of wilderness. With a fire season for the record books, the federal agencies managing these wilderness areas will likely face these same questions.
[1] https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7105/ (last visited 9/10/2020)
(Photo Credit: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/7105/, and Don Zirbel, Clackamas Fire District)
