California Condor Reintroduction Program

Today's speaker was Linda Price, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument Manager. She spoke with us about the California Condor Reintroduction Program. Condors were first released on the Arizona Strip in 1996 and since then, with the assistance of the Peregrine Fund’s Reintroduction program, their numbers have climbed to a total of 76 free flying birds in Arizona.

Linda Price graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Range Ecology and began her BLM career as a seasonal technician in Kingman Arizona in 1989. She came to the Arizona Strip in 1991 as a Range Conservationist and was assigned to the desert tortoise habitat along the Nevada border. She has served in various positions within the BLM range program until coming to the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument as the temporary manager in 2005. In 2008 she became the permanent Monument Manager. As Vermilion Cliffs National Monument Manger, Price oversees public lands issues on the 294,000-acre national monument which includes Paria Plateau, Paria Canyon, and Vermilion Cliffs. The Monument is internationally renowned for The Wave, a unique geologic feature in Coyote Buttes.

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BLM Fire Management

Thanks to Mark Rosenthal the Fire Management Officer for the BLM Arizona Strip District, for his presentation this morning.

The snowpack in our area has been almost 400% of normal which has allowed a great amount of grasses and growth in the area, which is what fires need to thrive. Weather projections show hotter than normal temps and low humidity for this summer. These conditions would be similar to what we experienced in 2005, which was an extreme fire season.Small fires have already been popping up in our area almost daily, with the conditions forecasted those fires could easily become large very quickly.

It's vitally important that all residents in our area clean up all the dry growth around their homes in order to keep your home safe from fires.

Most of the equipment used to fight fires in this area are stationed in our local area. Planes and helicopters are stationed in Cedar City and Mesquite. The ability to bring additional resources from outside our area can and will be done when needed. Much of what is dropped by the planes and copters are suppressants that slows the growth of the fire.