Fire as Maintenance: A 1,021-Acre Prescribed Burn in El Malpais National Monument

Grass and brush build up in the lava country of El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico, and fuel like that can carry a fire fast and lift it into the pinyon-juniper woodlands and Ponderosa pines above. So over five days in late May and early June 2023, the National Park Service set the fire itself: the 1,021-acre Lava Fields prescribed fire.

A firefighter checks ignitions on the Lava Fields prescribed fire. Credit: NPS.

Three goals

The NPS Four Winds Fire Zone, which manages wildland fire at six park sites in central New Mexico and east-central Arizona, planned the burn to:

1. reduce fuels near natural and cultural resources, roads and private property;
2. bring low-intensity fire back into a fire-dependent pinyon-juniper and Ponderosa pine ecosystem;
3. make unwanted wildfires less likely — slowing fires that start outside the park from coming in, and fires that start inside from spreading out.

Light fuels such as cured grasses spread fire quickly; medium fuels such as brush act as "ladder fuels" that let a fire climb and intensify into the trees. Returning fire also keeps the vegetation suited to the area's natural fire regime and holds the woodland at a density that resists drought and the threats that have devastated nearby pinyon-juniper forests.

Sixty firefighters

Conditions were favorable in the last week of May, and stayed that way, letting crews burn several units. The 60 firefighters came from across the West, including Saguaro National Park's Wildland Fire Module, Guadalupe Mountains, Mesa Verde, Dinosaur, Bandelier, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton and Big Bend (with its Diablos initial attack crew), and the Cibola National Forest.

Burning around the bats

One unit surrounded the "Bat Cave" at El Calderon, where thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats raise their young in summer. The bats had begun returning just days before. After consulting the park's resource managers — the bats were not yet at their most sensitive — crews burned the grass and fuels around the entrance while keeping smoke away from it. Clearing the opening now makes it less likely that a fast, severe wildfire will reach the cave when the pups are there.

Firefighters discuss saw technique while conducting fuels reduction on a unit adjacent to the Lava Fields Prescribed Fire. Experienced crew sawyers mentored sawyer trainees while prepping the 391-acre unit for a future prescribed fire. NPS.

Monitoring the burn at the entrance of El Calderon Bat Cave. Credit: NPS.

Training the next crews

Crews also cleared vegetation on an adjacent 391-acre unit to prepare it for a future burn. While they did, experienced sawyers spent half a day mentoring trainees, helping several earn their saw certification — skills they will take to parks and fires across the country.

Sources

Based on "Sustaining a park and a workforce through prescribed fire" from the National Park Service Wildland Fire Program (El Malpais National Monument), a work of the United States government in the public domain. Pictures an earlier version of this page left out were restored on 2026-09-26.