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5. Sanford Fire 2002 Demonstration – What happens after a fire?

Now, move your cursor down the Resource Issue topics to the left of the map until you reach the “Fire and Fuels” issue.  You will notice several dots and the larger pink transparent area appear on the map.

As noted above, the Sanford Fire 2002 part of this web site was produced as more of an emergency sub-web site project.  There had been a lot of news media coverage about the fire when it was burning.  However, the public was not well informed about the after effects of the fire or the management efforts to aid in recovery.  Mountain Visions was contracted to return for another week of photography to document some of these efforts and to create a detailed source of available visual information, which would help the public understand “the rest of the story” about the fire. 

The other Resource Issues on this web site also contain a lot of visual information, but spread out over more time.  The Sanford Fire and other resource issue topics should continue to be updated every year to keep the public informed about changes that take place over time. 

For example, because we had been doing photography in the watershed for two years, we were able to find a couple of places where we had taken panorama photographs before the fire.  We were able to go back to the same exact places and retake the photographs after the fire.  A way to look at these “monitoring panoramas” is provided below.

Click on the “Fire and Fuels” topic.
http://www.uppersevier.net/resource/fire.html

Now you will see the watershed map again with the same dots.  At the top left of the map you will see the text “Sanford Fire 2002.”  Roll over that text and you will see the larger transparent pink section appear over parts of John’s Valley and Bear Valley sub-watershed areas.

Click on the “Sanford Fire 2002” link. 
http://www.uppersevier.net/resource/sanfire/sanfire.html

Now you will see another enlarged section of the map that shows the boundary of the Sanford Fire, which started on May 31 and lasted until June 20, 2002.  On the map you will also see 13 location dots named in or close to the fire boundaries.  Some of these locations contain links to as many as 5 additional panoramas.  There are a total of 24 panoramas locations available from this map.  On the left side of the page additional links to more information is available, as well as a repeat list of the link locations on the map.

First click on the “Timeline” link on the left.   This will open a new page showing an animated sequence of how the fire grew over the three-week period, and text describing how the fire started and its costs.  You can close the timeline page.

Next, click on the “Acres Burned – Burn Intensity Map” link.   You will see a satellite image GIS map showing the percentage of forest burned with high, low and moderate intensity and also the unburned area within the fire perimeter.   Information is also available on vegetation types affected.  Close this map page.

Links to a “Summary” page and to a “Table of Contents” page specifically related to the Sanford Fire 2002 project are also available.

Click on the “Pine Creek Series” of panoramas first.
http://www.uppersevier.net/resource/sanfire/pinecr/pinecr1.html

You will notice as you scroll around that “Pine Creek 1” panorama is a “cubic panorama” that contains 4 different hot spots.  You will also notice that links are available to visit related cubic panoramas in Pine Creek 2 and 3.  We were with Jake Schoppe, wildlife biologist, for part of a day and he explained what can be seen in the panoramas.  Each panorama contains several additional hot spot links to text and/or audio video stories or related panorama pages.  Please don’t click on any of these now, unless you want to spend more time with this demonstration.

Now go back to the Sanford Fire 2002 Map by clicking on the “Sanford Fire” navigation text link at the top of the panorama page.

Click on the “Deep Creek Series” of panoramas. 
http://www.uppersevier.net/resource/sanfire/deepcr/deepcr1.html

You will notice that there are 4 additional “cubic panorama” locations that can be found in this general area.  After the fire a major rain event caused fairly severe damage to the stream and riparian area.  We were with Chris Butler, a U.S. Forest Service hydrologist, and a student crew for part of a day and they explained the effects of the fire and the flood and measuring techniques they would use to monitor the changes that are taking place now and in the future.  Note that there are about 16 different hot spots available in these 5 panoramas, which contain additional information.  Some of these link to upstream or downstream panorama views.  Again, please don’t click on these links at this time unless you have additional time for the demonstration.

Please go back again to the Sanford Fire 2002 Map by clicking on the “Sanford Fire” navigation text link at the top of the panorama page.
http://www.uppersevier.net/resource/sanfire/sanfire.html