Fighting fire with fire seems more like a movie plot than a plan to manage a wildland fire, but despite it being counterintuitive, the VanWinkle family in Mesa County is watching, learning, and cooperating with crews as the Turner Gulch Fire in Western Colorado burns on their U.S. Forest Service allotment.
About half of the Turner Gulch Fire is burning on the VanWinkle Ranch’s 39,000-acre allotment and about 600 head of cows are currently on the land. The family — Howard, Janie, their son, Dean and his wife, Tayler — are alternatively spending their early mornings at U.S. Forest Service briefings and horseback alongside the cattle, moving them as necessary as fire crews utilize backburns, complete handwork, and receive aerial slurry drops to create a perimeter around the fire.
The fire roaring up a mesa and entering the Uncompahgre Plateau. Photo by Janie VanWinkleJanie-Turner-Gulch
The fire began in the Unaweep Canyon, an area with meadows in the bottoms and oakbrush along the hills. There are homes in the canyon and crews were able to save them. She said the fire burned through the Unaweep and then crept up the rim and onto the Uncompahgre Plateau. The canyon walls of the Uncompahgre are steep and covered in granite rock. Trees were burning in the canyons and when one fell into the next canyon, that canyon would begin to burn. Janie and her family were there when the fire burned out of the canyon onto the ridge and she said it was roaring. Once on the flat, the fire slowed and the management continued by crews, allowing areas that need to burn to do so, while guiding the fire around other structures and areas.
“It just seems so counterintuitive to me that they’re setting all these backfires, and finally one of the guys almost gets in my face and he says, Janie, you fight structure fires with water and you fight wildland fire with fire and I have seen where they have literally turned the fire when it’s running fast,” she said.
Howard VanWinkle checking cows with fire crew not far away working to create a perimeter. Photo by Janie VanWinklecowsandcrew
The ranch house on the mountain where Janie spent her childhood summers is located on about 500 acres and while it’s no longer in her family, it holds significance to her family and the current owners. Janie said crews were able to burn right up to the structure and then turn the fire with fire.
THE LOSSES
There was a legacy cowcamp lost in the fire and Janie said she stood on the blackened ground with a horseshoe in her hand that had once been tacked on the wall by someone who “might need that someday.” Built five or six generations ago and still used by a neighboring ranch family, the camp was even part of Dean’s 4-H service project when he helped update the saddle shed. The losses, stacked on the drought and exhaustion, are emotional, she said.
She doesn’t anticipate any cattle losses, but the respiratory issues the smoke will cause are going to require management and likely treatment. The family has a robust vaccination protocol in place for cows and calves alike, and this stress will put it to the test.
The other looming concern is where to go with 600 head of cattle now that the fire has gobbled all but about three weeks of feed. The areas that haven’t burned, she said, are the areas that have been grazed, a nod to the importance of grazing.
The family doesn’t anticipate cattle losses, but does expect to struggle with respiratory issues from the smoke. Photo by Janie VanWinklevw
“I think we also have to look at this from the, from the glass half full side and that is that fire rejuvenates and fire is a natural phenomenon and it will improve the landscape,” she said. “You know, three to five years from now, the landscape will be very much better for it. It’s going to be fairly painful in the short term, but in the long run, I see some good things coming of it.”
Within the allotment, there are nine units or pastures and while some have natural boundaries like cliffs or rims, there is extensive fencing. She said the crews are trying to protect the structures including fences and water tanks.
Chance Arpke and Dean VanWinkle have been horseback on the allotment moving cattle out of the way of flames and crews as the Turner Gulch Fire burns. Photo by Janie VanWinkledean
“There’s quite a bit of fencing, and I will tell you again, the fire agencies are amazing,” she said. “They’re saving some of the fences. I have a picture where they go in and every wooden post they pull the debris away from it for about 1.5 2 foot diameter circle away from the wooden post. I mean, really, for miles? Yeah, but they did.”
She said learning about fire behavior based on different terrains and fuels has been interesting and seeing the slow, mosaic pattern of burn patches that are best for the landscape. The cattle behavior, she said, has been rather normal throughout the burn, though sometimes they’re literally right there in the burning areas. The water is fairly limited, but they’re moving to water and then back to graze but aren’t scattering.
Janie said she’s trying to look past the smoke and see the benefits the landscape will experience in several years. Photo by Janie VanWinkleaspenleaf
STATEMENT
Janie said she intended to attend the July 17 Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Grand Junction but, instead, her sister Rio Blanco County Commissioner Callie Scritchfield read her statement. Scritchfield’s voice shook telling the commission about the work her sister’s family was doing to keep their cattle safe from the fire.
“I am unable to be here with you today, because we are literally keeping our cattle out of the line of fire. We are horseback six to 10 hours a day for the past week, keeping watch and working with all agencies involved. We have been involved in briefings, consultations and observations for another four to six hours a day. Our travel time is another four hours a day. Communication has been excellent with all the entities involved in the operations, our community support has been beyond astounding. I’m telling you all of this because everyone in our family is absolutely exhausted and overwhelmed. The future looks a bit uncertain, concern and care for our cattle is absolutely our highest priority every day on the ranch. This threat has heightened that concern immeasurably, but with the terror of seeing or knowing that one or more cows could burn the mental and emotional toll is beyond anything I could have ever comprehended before this happened,” she said.
Scritchfield said Dean said it best when he said he would do anything necessary to save anything with a beating heart. While dealing with the fire, VanWinkle advocated for ranchers dealing with wolf presence.
“As I talk with our friends and neighbors that are dealing with wolves, I realize there is going to be more of this kind of challenge in our future. The mental and emotional toll is a lot. I have never experienced anything like it in my last 50 years caring for livestock, my ask as a to you as a commission, is to hear what is being said, realize the solutions that are being offered by the people on the ground, whether they are the CPW (Colorado Parks and Wildlife) line officers or livestock producers, their solutions are practical and can be implemented to reduce the impacts on our livestock.”
An aerial drop of slurry while VanWinkles were on their allotment caring for their cattle. Photo by Janie VanWinklevw3
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