Fire and Forestry - Ozark NSR Pictures 2008

Pictures from Ozark National Scenic Riverways

2008 Fire Season

Above: Whitetail deer on the Peavine road during a January snowstorm, Ozark NSR 2008.

January 2008 found me traveling back to Missouri to once again brave the elements and work for the National Park Service at Ozark NSR. I had just finished a fall semester at the University of Montana, and was looking for a break before I started graduate school there in the fall of '08. I thought that a return to the Ozarks would be a good way to get some more prescribed fire experience and make some extra money to go towards student loans, and thus I was back. If last year taught me anything about the Ozarks, it is that the weather here is predictably unpredictable. During my first two weeks back I witnessed highs in the 60s, lows in the low teens, and everything from beautiful sunshine to heavy rain, and even 4 inches of snow. The snow was pretty neat to see, as the entire park was basically shut down for two days, with few employees (at least on the fire side of things) braving the weather to come to work. Next on the weird weather agenda was a minor ice storm that really shut down the fire office for most of a week - nobody came to work (except those of us at the Cotton House, who really had no excuse... the Cotton House is about 20 yards from the fire cache), and we all pretty much holed-up for a while. It's really hard to get frozen leaves to burn after all...

Wet weather plagued us the month of February, with it being the wettest February on record for this area (over 6 inches of precipitation). It seemed that the weather pattern was one to three days a week of nice weather, and four to six days a week of rain or worse. The month of March started off with the temperature rising to 75 degrees on the 2nd, and dropping to below freezing and snowing 8 inches on the 4th. Talk about crazy weather. And it only got worse. In late March there was a heavy rain event of 11 inches in 36 hours, and many, many days of light rain. This resulted in the cancellation of all of our burns on the park, and not burning much with the Mark Twain NF. Also, the 11 inches of rain caused a flood that was pretty impressive in it's scope. The Current river at Van Buren rose 25 feet above normal flow, causing much damage to the campgrounds and other park facilities on the low ground near the banks of the river. It also created a lot of work for the "fire" crew cleaning roadways of excess mud, and cleaning the mud, up to 6 inches deep, out the park bathrooms that had been submerged.

In summary, the winter was really odd as far as weather was concerned, and fire was virtually nonexistent in the Ozarks in the spring of 2008. Still, I had a decent time, and saw some parts of the Ozarks that I hadn't before, so it wasn't a total loss.

So, a glance at the events of the Spring 2008 un-burn season at Ozark NSR, in the order that I experienced them...

Me in the snow. Feels strangely like home...	The Peavine road in front of the fire cache.	"Little Red" covered in ice at the Cotton House.	The Cotton Barn, with a sunrise illuminating the icy terrain.
Some of the crew standing outside the fire cache, admiring the icy wonderland.	"Ozark Treasure," or an archeological ("arky" for short) site needing to be excluded from the Sweezie Hollow RX.	The sign for the Big Spring campground, and the flooding Current River. Little did we know this was but a taste of things to come...	No, it's not a boat ramp... It's the Peavine road under water. You can see the road coming out of the river in the upper right.
Andre, Joe, and Jack (L-R), at the Sweeny House, Wilson's Creek NB, MO.	Eric P. at the Wilson's Creek shop, sporting the "Unabomber style" glasses and hoodie.	Scott, Joe (Wilson's Creek), and Joe (Ozark's "Jersey Joe"), and the chipper at Wilson's Creek.	Most of the crew on a false alarm fire call near Winona, MO. There were fires, only just outside our protection area.
Eric N. (L) and Chris (R) at the false alarm near Winona, MO.	Stupid snow! Two days after the false alarm fires, we got 8 inches of snow at the fire cache.	Finally! Fire! The Kaintuck RX on the Mark Twain NF.	Another look at the Kaintuck RX, MTF.
Eric N. with "Ozark Treasure" on the Kaintuck RX, Mark Twain NF.	Me with the largest tree I've cut down to date - a roughly 32" DBH black oak snag - using a 25" bar. Can you say doublecut?	The junction of Z highway and 103/Peavine Road, near Big Spring Lodge.	The same junction, under water during the flood. The junction is roughly 1/4 mile from the river.
The steps at the Big Spring CCC lodge, on the spring branch and Current river junction.	The same steps, under the waters of the flooded Current river.	A different look at the Z hwy/103 junction.	The same junction, under several feet of water.
A shot comparing the Current river at normal flow last year (L), and at 25 feet above normal (R) this year.