FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., March 5, 2024 — The Coconino County Flood Control District (The District) and the Coconino National Forest have announced a new Upper Rio De Flag Watershed restoration plan to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and post-fire flooding.
“It’s been proven that forest restoration—including mechanical thinning and prescribed fire—is an effective tool to reduce wildfire spread and severity,” said Coconino County Forest Restoration Director Jay Smith. “The completion of forest restoration in Upper Rio De Flag Watershed will provide a multi-generational benefit to our region.”
The forest restoration plan for the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed focuses on six different project areas totaling over 12,000 acres— more than half of the entire 21,500 acre watershed. It was developed following a set of studies that demonstrated significant wildfire and post-wildfire flood risk in the area.
The project goal is to treat these six project areas within the next five years through a variety of partnerships and contracts between the Forest Service, the District, the timber industry, The Nature Conservancy and other cooperators.
“These six projects were selected as priority areas for treatment on the basis of their potential for overall impact and our ability to implement forest restoration quickly,” said Coconino National Forest District Ranger Matt McGrath. “These acres capture a large amount of untreated, heavy-use areas where a catastrophic wildfire may be likely to start and spread onto the San Francisco Peaks and into the wilderness areas of the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed.”
Forest treatments – such as mechanical thinning and prescribed fire – are an important part of the Forest Service’s 10-year Wildfire Crisis Strategy, which aims to address the wildfire crisis in the places where it poses the most immediate threats to communities such as Flagstaff.
A combination of mechanical thinning and prescribed fire in the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed will remove ample amounts of woody biomass—“dead and down” wood — that has accumulated over decades of historic fire suppression, and would serve as “fuel” for an unwanted wildfire.
“In other forest restoration projects in the region—such as on Bill Williams Mountain—we have seen dead and down built up to 100 tons per acre,” Smith said. “That’s a lot of fuel for a potential wildfire, and it’s imperative that we address that fuel as part of our forest restoration treatments.”
The plan also includes implementation of a “Proactive Watershed Restoration Pilot Program,” explained Flood Control District Administrator Lucinda Andreani.
“We have learned over decades of post-wildfire flood mitigation that on-forest watershed restoration is crucial to reducing erosion and downstream flood impacts,” Andreani said. “Historically, we have only pursued watershed restoration after a wildfire, but with the help of our partners at JE Fuller Hydrology and Natural Channel Design, we have identified opportunities in the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed to restore watershed function proactively. This will provide ecological benefits while putting us one step ahead of potential post-wildfire flooding.”
The current estimate to treat the six project areas of the Upper Rio De Flag Watershed is $26 million. Pending administrative approvals, The District and Forest Service have accounted for roughly $13 million of that expense so far. The Forest Service will be taking lead on developing the contracts, grants, or allocations necessary to account for the remaining funds.
“Having endured 9 major wildfires since 2010, the people of Coconino County are very aware of the threats posed by catastrophic wildfire and post-wildfire flooding,” said Coconino County District 1 Supervisor Patrice Horstman. “We know that these investments are well-founded and crucial to the future of our communities.”
The Upper Rio De Flag Watershed restoration plan will work alongside other ongoing Coconino National Forest projects, such as the Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project – a part of the larger Four Forest Restoration Initiative — to reduce the future risk of devastating wildfire and post-fire flooding in the Flagstaff area.
“The purpose of the Coconino County Forest Restoration Initiative has always been to apply a data-driven approach to the county’s top two public safety threats: wildfire and post-wildfire flooding,” said Coconino County Chair of the Board and District 2 Supervisor Jeronimo Vasquez. “We have the data, we have a strong partner in the Coconino National Forest, and now we have a plan to make our goals a reality.”
Information on how to access a recording of the forest restoration plan presentation can be found at: www.coconino.az.gov/104/Board-of-Supervisors. For more information, visit www.coconino.az.gov/3286/The-Wildfire-Crisis-in-Coconino-County