Update: Fires Scorching the Kaibab Plateau

 

The White Sage and Dragon Bravo fires have burned over 200,000 acres of BLM, National  Forest and Grand Canyon National Park.

Both fires started as lighting strikes that managing agencies chose to allow to burn as “managed fires”. The White Sage fire quickly grew from BLM along the AZ Strip up in elevation onto the north end of the Kaibab and spread east toward the Paria Plateau, consuming much of Unit 12B in the process.

The Dragon Bravo Fire initiated on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, within the park boundaries at the far southern tip of the Kaibab Plateau. The fire exploded out of control the second week of July, burning most of the buildings at the North Rim visitor center, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge. Even after burning the assets the fire remained relatively small and isolated within the National Park. Late in July, the fire took off again and expanded rapidly, blowing past containment lines and growing to more than 120,000 acres and expanding onto the Kaibab National Forest in hunting Unit 12A.

Not a good year to have a tag in these coveted areas and only time will tell what recovery of this vaunted mule deer habitat looks like.