NPS Press Release:
Small Fire Burning In Yellowstone’s Central Plateau
Lightning from recent thunderstorms has started a small fire in the western section of Yellowstone National Park on the Central Plateau south of Gibbon Falls.
The Gibbon Fire was discovered at 9:00 a.m.,Tuesday, July 26 by a park research overflight. The fire is several miles southeast of Gibbon Falls. It was named for its proximity to the Gibbon River.
The fire is three quarters of an acre in size, and burning in an area of both mature and regenerated lodgepole pine forest close to where the 2006 Magpie Fire burned 3,200 acres in similar forest type. Smoke from the fire will likely be visible from the Grand Loop Road between Gibbon Falls and Madison Junction.
The Gibbon Fire will be managed for multiple objectives including protection of people and property, natural resource benefit, and the safe, effective use of available wildland fire management resources.
No roads, campgrounds or trails are closed because of this fire, and it poses no threat to visitors.
Yellowstone National Park is a fire adapted ecosystem. Fire plays an important role in maintaining the health of the area’s wildlife habitat and vegetation. Most fires occurring in Yellowstone are caused by lightning.
The fire danger in Yellowstone National Park is currently “Moderate.” The National Weather Service forecast for the next several days calls for sunny skies and breezy conditions, with daytime highs in the mid and upper 70s and overnight lows in the low 40s.
Visitors are reminded that portable camp stoves and self-contained charcoal grills may be used for cooking in all designated campsites and picnic areas. But campfires are allowed only in established fire pits or grates in campgrounds, picnic areas, and at specifically designated backcountry campsites.
This is the fourth small fire reported in Yellowstone National Park this year. Three other fires, reported June 8 and 30 and July 12, were also caused by lightning. All were less than a quarter-acre in size and have been declared out.
The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
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Yellowstone Central Plateau Fire
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July 29, 2011 05:19AM |
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