This summer, as smoke filled the skies, residents of Pine Valley in Washington County held their breath as the Forsyth Fire raged, a stark reminder of the ever-present threat of wildfire in Utah. In Sevier and Piute counties, the story was different. When the Monroe Canyon Fire ignited on Monroe Mountain, it was a test of a decade’s worth of foresight, hard work and investment. The outcome sends a clear and powerful message: Proactive forest management is critical to protecting our communities and natural resources.
For years federal agencies, private landowners, and many local partners and sportsman groups have been diligently working on Monroe Mountain. They thinned dense forests, conducted prescribed burns and strategically removed excess vegetation. This wasn’t a response to an emergency but a calculated effort to restore the landscape’s natural resilience to fire.
When the Monroe Canyon Fire started on July 13, those investments paid dividends. The fire, upon reaching the treated areas, dropped from the crowns of the trees to the ground, and its intensity was dramatically reduced. This allowed firefighters to engage the blaze safely and effectively, preventing it from exploding into a catastrophic event that could have threatened more homes, watersheds and lives.
This proactive work on the east side of the fire near Highway 24, coupled with active firefighting strategies, saved roughly 200 structures, helped prevent the fire from spreading to the Fishlake National Forest and kept the communities of Burrville and Koosharem safe.
The success in Monroe Canyon provides a powerful example, reinforcing the importance of large-scale mitigation work. This work is also underway in places like Pine Valley. In the wake of the Forsyth Fire, which scorched thousands of acres and forced evacuations, the Pine Valley Priority Landscape Project represents a similar commitment to proactive forest management. This massive undertaking, funded through a collaborative partnership between the U.S. Forest Service, the state of Utah and private landowners, aims to treat over 400,000 acres of land. This collaborative approach is essential for slowing the spread of future wildfires and reducing their intensity, giving firefighters a crucial advantage.
The lessons from Monroe Mountain and Pine Valley extend far beyond these scenic corners of our state. Utah has over 700 communities in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) — the zone where our homes and wildlands meet — and that number is growing. As more people choose to live in these beautiful but fire-prone areas, our collective responsibility to prepare for wildfire increases.
This responsibility is shared. It lies with federal and state agencies to fund and implement large-scale projects like those on Monroe Mountain and in Pine Valley. It lies with state and local governments to enforce WUI building codes and community wildfire preparedness plans. It lies with Congress to pursue proactive forest management policies.
Earlier this year, the House passed the Fix Our Forests Act, which would restore forest health, increase community resilience to wildfires, give agencies new tools to restore watersheds and protect communities, increase the pace and scale of forest restoration projects, and much more. This would impact over 117 million acres of our nation’s forests that are currently overgrown, at risk of fires and in need of active management.
The Utah delegation is also sponsoring the Utah Wildfire Research Institute Act, which would establish a wildfire research institute at Utah State University to develop science-backed strategies for preventing fires, restoring our forests and managing our rangelands. The institute would collaborate with experts and agencies at every level to make Utah a leader in wildfire resilience.
Additionally, the fires on Monroe Mountain and in Pine Valley were both closely linked to areas protected by the Roadless Rule. These are areas where mitigation tools are very limited and access for mitigation work and wildland firefighting is extremely limited. (See map.) Of the areas covered by the rule, 28 million acres are at a high or very high risk of wildfire. Thankfully, the USDA is working to rescind it and restore local decision-making and responsible forest management.
Finally, each homeowner and resident has a responsibility to take action in their own backyards. Creating defensible space around our homes, choosing fire-resistant landscaping and having a family evacuation plan are essential actions for anyone living in wildfire zones. Resources like the Firewise program, Living with Fire and Utah’s Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal provide invaluable guidance for homeowners and communities looking to reduce their wildfire risk. We all need to use our fire sense.
The cost of inaction is too high. The expense of fighting massive wildfires, the devastation of lost homes and businesses, and the long-term environmental damage far outweigh the investment in proactive mitigation. The work being done on Monroe Mountain and Pine Valley is a model for the rest of the state and country. It demonstrates that by working together, we can create more resilient landscapes and safer communities.
The threat of wildfire in Utah and across the West is not going away. Drought and a legacy of fire suppression have created a tinderbox in many of our forests. But we are not powerless. By embracing a culture of preparedness, from our state and federal land managers to our local communities and individual homeowners, we can face the flames with a united front.
The successes on Monroe Mountain and the ongoing work in Pine Valley are critical steps in the right direction, but they must be the beginning, not the end, of our commitment to protecting Utah from the ravages of wildfire.