Columnist Paula Del Giudice: Campers must be aware of fire danger

Thursday, June 13, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

Paula Del Giudice's outdoors column appears Thursday. She can be reached at desertdenizens@aol.com.

While wildfires burn in many spots in Colorado, destroying homes, wildlife habitat and threatening human life, we may be relieved to know they are not happening here and relax our caution.

However, the blaze last weekend that threatened the town of Pioche --and others earlier in the month near Mesquite --are harbingers of a fire season that could be just as dangerous to special places in Nevada. Conditions are already ripe throughout Nevada --and it's very early in the season.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, more than a million acres are currently involved in active fires. The overall forecast for the West is for warming and drying in the next few days, with a decrease in wind.

A red flag warning, which indicates critical fire weather, has been posted for Colorado for strong wind, warm temperatures and low relative humidity.

Very high to extreme fire conditions are reported in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah.

Participants in the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coalition workshop traveling to Ely last weekend observed range conditions in southern White Pine County and all of Lincoln and Clark counties that were extremely dry, especially for early summer. Last week's above normal temperatures and high winds contributed to an already parched landscape and have set the stage for a potentially disastrous fire season.

Hunters know how the range fires have impacted wildlife populations. This year, the number of deer tags was reduced in several popular areas as a result of the impacts of fire during the past five years. The losses to wildlife habitat in northeastern Nevada are significant.

Ken Gray, a NDOW biologist, said approximately 770,000 acres have burned during the past five years in that area alone.

Those camping and hiking should not build fires this year. Those operating vehicles in extremely dry areas should keep to established roads and trails. Smokers have a duty to keep their cigarettes in confined spaces, such as vehicles. One misplaced spark can cause irreparable damage.

The drought that has led to the extreme fire conditions is causing trouble of another sort. NDOW biologists are hauling water by helicopter to bighorn sheep water developments.

Craig Stevenson, NDOW biologist, said helicopters from Lake Mead to the man-made water developments in the Muddy, McCullough and Specter mountain ranges delivered water recently. The hauls were conducted with helicopters provided by the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

According to NDOW reports, water developments have been installed in 20 mountain ranges in the southern end of the state to provide a year-round water source for bighorn sheep and other wildlife. Only the three ranges where water was hauled are having significant problems due to drought.

"We tried to get enough water into the developments to spread the sheep out," Stevenson said. "We have been waiting for spring rains to fill the developments, but they have yet to arrive. So we wanted to be proactive and prevent an emergency."

Funding for the project was provided by a variety of sportsman and outdoor groups. Volunteers from those groups also helped the two-week project.

Also on the agenda for the joint meeting are: Interstate mule deer herds, recovery efforts for Lahontan cutthroat trout and the Tahoe Environmental Improvement program. There will also be reports from the two states on how they deal with black bears in urban environments.

The Nevada commissioners will then meet alone the next day at 9 a.m. at the Tahoe Justice Court, 175 U.S. Highway 50 in Stateline.

Wildlife Commission meetings are open to the public. The public is invited to attend and speak on issues of concern. Public input periods are scheduled for both days.

Results of the drawing will be mailed to hunters who applied for tags in this year's drawing. They may also be obtained that day online at www.huntnevada.com and at NDOW's Las Vegas office at 4747 Vegas Drive and Henderson office at 744 South Racetrack Road.

If tags remain after the drawing, a second drawing will be held with the application deadline set for 5 p.m. on July 8. Results of that drawing will be available online and at NDOW on July 19.

If tags remain after the second drawing, applications for them will be accepted beginning on July 26.