In 1968, the National Park Service (NPS) officially revised its approach to wildfires, stating that they played a key role in maintaining the health of forests. According to Department of the Interior reports, natural burns cleared dead timber and dense clusters of young trees that prevented new growth. In the wake of the decision, park managers experimented with different approaches to maintain healthy forests without causing severe damage. During prescribed burns, the Park Service started fires within strictly defined boundaries and weather conditions to control their severity. During let-burn situations, the agency monitored natural blazes and allowed them to burn. Grand Teton National Park experimented with both approaches.
\nOn August 28, 1973, NPS officials ignited the Uhl Hill Fire in a dense grove of sagebrush and aspen near the Grand Teton’s eastern edge. One of two prescribed fire experiments that year, NPS expected Uhl Hill to burn one-hundred acres. Cool, wet conditions made it easier to control, but fifty-six firefighters stood by to suppress it if it escaped approved boundaries. While snow and high wind quickly ended the project, which only burned thirty acres of brush, it showed that the Park Service could control blazes within park boundaries. This experiment proved useful on July 17, 1974, when lightning sparked the Waterfalls Canyon Fire near Jackson Lake. It started in the same area that a five-acre let-burn blaze impacted in 1973. Because of its location, park officials allowed it to burn. The Park Service closely monitored the flames, noting that they spread slowly unless high winds or heavy fuels stimulated them.
\nWhile NPS perceived Waterfalls Canyon as a successful test of let-burn management, decades of suppression had pushed the public to fear fire, generating controversy. By September 18, the blaze burned 1,900 acres, and smoke from it reached the nearby town of Jackson, Wyoming. The Park Service estimated that about 100,000 tourists observed the smoke, and it incensed Jackson’s citizens, many of whom relied on tourist traffic from Grand Teton to make a living. Residents complained that the let-burn policy ignored the needs of local communities, drawing increased attention to the flames. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and Time magazine reported on Waterfalls Canyon in September, bringing it to national attention. In response to the controversy, the Park Service’s Rocky Mountain regional office issued a press release that explained the let-burn approach.
\nDespite public backlash, Park Service officials never suppressed Waterfalls Canyon. Snow finally extinguished it in November 1974, and it only burned 3,500 acres. However, the negative publicity pushed NPS to educate the public about the let-burn approach. In 1974, the Park Service issued a press release that argued that natural fires maintained a healthy landscape in parks. Three years later, a Park Service policy known as NPS-18 approved let-burn management nationwide.
","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"","lede":"The 1974 Waterfalls Canyon Fire started in a designated let-burn area near Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park, so the National Park Service allowed it to burn. Smoke from the blaze impacted tourists and local communities, prompting public debates about the Park Service policy that allowed natural fires to burn.","website":"","related_resources":["Loope, Lloyd L., and Robert P. Wood. “Fire Management in Glacier National Park. National Park Service History Elibrary, https://talltimbers.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/87-LoopeandWood1974_op.pdf.
","Pyne. Stephen J. Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997.
","Rothman, Hal. Blazing Heritage: A History of Wildland Fire in the National Parks. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
","United States National Park Service. “Maps - Grand Teton National Park.” National Park Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, June 29, 2022. https://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/maps.htm"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/218d40ecfabb4d0268fec6ef7807fcd7.jpg":{"id":4010,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Smoke in the mountains at Grand Teton National Park during a fire.","description":"The Waterfalls Canyon Fire shared its name with a canyon on the shores of Jackson Lake. This 1974 image shows the blaze from across the lake. |Unknown Photographer. HFCA 1607_Fires And Firefighting_060.jpg. 1974. NPGallery, https://npgallery.nps.gov/HFC/AssetDetail/548a7131-9eb5-4f80-86b0-4d960c5d8073
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/218d40ecfabb4d0268fec6ef7807fcd7.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/7a8df623df3b972409034434349f3027.jpg":{"id":4011,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Newspaper Article about the Waterfalls Canyon Fire","description":"This article appeared in The Sheridan Press on October 25, 1974, three months into the Waterfalls Canyon Fire. It demonstrates that controversy surrounding the let-burn policy extended far beyond the Jackson, Wyoming area. |The Sheridan Press. “Fires still burning in ‘natural burn.’ 25 October 1974.
","thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/7a8df623df3b972409034434349f3027.jpg"},"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/aaaea6ae32e63183b5470ea495e9773e.jpg":{"id":4012,"mime-type":"image/png","title":"Burnt trees at Grand Teton National Park following a forest fire","description":"Aftermath of the Waterfalls Canyon Fire, c. 1974. While the dense trees indicate the type of growth sustained by suppression, Waterfalls Canyon cleared the ground, making room for older trees to continue growing. |Unknown Photographer. HFCA 1607_Fires And Firefighting_101.jpg. 1974. NPGallery, https://npgallery.nps.gov/HFC/AssetDetail/59ffa088-df5d-4ee0-ab41-783d7aba91d0 .
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