Efforts Underway To Prevent 'Catastrophic' Wildfires In Arizona

Efforts are underway to prevent "catastrophic" wildfires in Arizona, reported AZ Family.

Dan Sturla, Habitat Enhancement Coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said, "We've seen a handful of our top ten most severe wildfires, in the last decade alone. They're becoming catastrophic fires, they are becoming more frequent, and they're only going to get worse in the face of climate change."

So what's being done?

In an area east-northeast of Young in the Tonto Basin is an area that is being targeted by environmental specialists. The dense brush woodland is full of non-native, invasive plants. These plants don't provide any nutritional value for the area's wildlife and they burn more frequently in the summer months.

William Dudley, fuels specialist, said, "A race against time at this point, on the landscape. We haven't done enough."

Professionals are working to excavate the area and create a fire break for the neighboring communities.

Sturla said, "Basically, we're trying to hit the reset button and restore natural processes. It would be great if we could go up in a plane right now and look at the state and see how dense and overstocked our forests are. We need to get involved and thin these forests."

"With the overstocking that's there now, we can't have these low intensity fires, and what you get it something catastrophic that's completely stand replacing, and it doesn't bounce back like it would under healthy historic conditions," Sturla said.