Gallery

The right side of the road going through Fosset Gulch east of Bayfield shows the results of a prescribed burn in 2016. The other side, which was not burned, has more brush and trees. The prescribed burn is meant to mimic the natural cycle of low-level fire in the forest. Frequent small fires can reduce the risk of less frequent but more catastrophic fires. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

A prescribed burn in 2016 in Fosset Gulch east of Bayfield shows how the fire thinned the oak brush and burned the smaller trees reducing the threat of a crowning fire. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

The right side of the road going through Fosset Gulch east of Bayfield shows the result of a prescribed burn in 2016. The other side, which was not burned, has more brush and trees. The prescribed burn is meant to mimic the natural cycle of low-level fire in the forest. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Thick Gambel oak and smaller trees grow on one side of Fosset Gulch east of Bayfield that was not part of a prescribed burn in 2016. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

With their thick bark, ponderosas can resist ground-crawling wildfires and prescribed burns. These types of fires clear the forest of brush and small trees that act as ladder fuels, which allow fires to climb into the forest canopy and create more intense fires. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Hon Schlapfer, assistant fire management officer-fuels for the San Juan National Forest at the Columbine Ranger District in Bayfield, digs up several inches of thatch on the forest floor that has not been burned in the Fosset Gulch area east of Bayfield. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Hon Schlapfer, assistant fire management officer-fuels for the San Juan National Forest, stirs up the forest floor in Fosset Gulch where there is hardly any thatch after a prescribed burned east of Bayfield. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

With their thick bark, ponderosas can resist ground-crawling wildfires and prescribed burns. These types of fires clear the forest of brush and small trees that act as ladder fuels, which allow fires to climb into the forest canopy and create more intense fires. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

With their thick bark, ponderosas can resist ground-crawling wildfires and prescribed burns. These types of fires clear the forest of brush and small trees that act as ladder fuels, which allow fires to climb into the forest canopy and create more intense fires. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Hon Schlapfer, assistant fire management officer-fuels for the San Juan National Forest, faces an area in Fosset Gulch east of Bayfield that was subjected to a prescribed burn in 2016. On the other side of the road, the understory has not been thinned. The Forest Service is on the verge of finalizing a new management plan for 80,000 acres from Vallecito Reservoir to the Piedra River. The plan predetermines where prescribed burns, as well as naturally ignited fires, may benefit the forest and where forest managers don’t want to see fire, which would call for an all-out fight. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

A prescribed burn in 2016 in Fosset Gulch east of Bayfield shows how the fire reduced the oak brush and burned the smaller trees reducing the threat of a crowning fire. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Hon Schlapfer, assistant fire management officer-fuels for the San Juan National Forest, looks over an area in Fosset Gulch that was subject to a prescribed burn in 2016. The forest on the other side of the road was not burned and remain thick with brush that could cause a wildfire to reach the forest canopy. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Hon Schlapfer, assistant fire management officer-fuels for the San Juan National Forest, walks in an area thick with vegetation near the Piedra River that has not burned in years. The Forest Service plans on doing a prescribed burn in the area at some point in the future. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

Hon Schlapfer, assistant fire management officer-fuels for the San Juan National Forest, walks in an area thick with vegetation near the Piedra River that has not burned in years. The Forest Service plans on doing a prescribed burn in the area at some point in the future. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

A portion of forest thick in vegetation near the Piedra River has not burned in years. The Forest Service plans on doing a prescribed burn in the area at some point in the future. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald

A portion of forest thick in vegetation near the Piedra River has not burned in years. The Forest Service plans on doing a prescribed burn in the area at some point in the future. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald