How thinning dense Arizona forests could prevent another megafire and protect water sources – By Brandon Loomis (Arizona Republic) / June 21, 2022
Arizona water providers are joining with federal foresters to prevent fire devastation in a critical watershed by thinning dense stands of trees.
PINE — From atop the Baker Butte Lookout, a sea of evergreens, oaks and locusts spreads across the Mogollon Rim to the hazy horizon.
A broad-tailed hummingbird buzzes a feeder perched on the steel lattice tower, the food supplied by a U.S. Forest Service fire sentinel. Down the dirt road, but obscured by the dense tree cover, a band of spike-antlered and cow elk shuffle and munch in the warmth of a May afternoon.
It’s a peaceful, pine-scented scene that cloaks the constant threat embodied by the watchtower and its staff. Out of view to the east, a 700-square-mile expanse of forest still struggles to recover from the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire. That massive blaze burned across 468,638 acres, destroyed hundreds of structures and dumped ash, eroded dirt and contaminants into streams that flow to the Salt River and, ultimately, metro Phoenix.
A repeat here would choke off much of the water that the small city of Payson relies on, along with some that makes it to Phoenix in the Verde River.
