Perfect storm

       This past summer I worked on the Warm Springs Reservation with the Natural Resources Department. I helped the biologists compile some of the current data regarding the Big horn sheep populations there on the reservation.  Every part of the experience was new to me, from equipment to dealing with the extreme conditions.  This was the first time I had had the opportunity to be in an area that was excessively fire prone even in the early spring.  The possibility of fire was always on the  minds of everyone when we needed to get to a site with limited access and fine fuels everywhere.   I don't think anyone was surprised when the massive fire was ignited by a motorist crossing the reservation.  All of the sides of the "fire triangle" were lined up and just waiting to lock in by this time in the season.  The fine fuel of the cheat grasses were everywhere due in part to the overgrazing of the wild horse populations.  The winds in the area seem to always pick up in the afternoon which took acre of the oxygen side of the triangle.  I think in this case the breeze/draft cause by the cars on the highway had a good deal to do with feeding the extra oxygen to the ignition area.  After two and a half weeks the area I was working in was opened back up and   I was surprised the way it moved across the landscape.  The fire didn't move straight across, it jumped from area to area.  Some of the burned areas you could see were ignited by the firefighters to back burn and some of the others in the timber  were the highly televised crown fires. Driving across the reservation after the fire gave me a peak in to the life of the fire and even more respect for those managing it.

                   This was a picture I took driving across the reservation 2 week into the fire.