Teton Interagency Fire

This multi-unit project area covering approximately 74,267 acres is a result of the Hams Fork decision which includes timber sales, aspen restoration, hazard tree removal and prescribed burning.  Units 6 and 8 approximately total 200 acres and are located within the Hams Fork Vegetation Project and are target to be prescribe burned spring of 2025.

• Hams Fork Project Area Map

Grand Teton National Park is planning prescribed fire operations for 105 acres in mid to late May on a portion of the Slough South unit of the Hayfields Restoration Management Area (HMRA). The unit is located east of Blacktail Butte and west of Mormon Row, between the Gros Ventre and Antelope Flats roads.

Prescribed fire is a key component of a multi-stage effort to restore abandoned pastureland in Grand Teton National Park to native vegetation. In collaboration with park vegetation ecologists, this project utilizes prescribed fire, herbicide applications, and other treatments to transition non-native grasses back to native rangeland species across 18 small units.

Since the early 1900s, agricultural activities and livestock grazing significantly impacted the area. Jackson Hole’s early homesteaders converted large tracts of the local sagebrush grasslands to pasture and hay field grasses for agricultural use. These irrigated crops eventually became known as the Kelly Hayfields.

The primary vegetation in the HMRA now consists of invasive agronomic grasses and noxious weeds, including non-native smooth brome and thistle. The restoration process of removing formerly cultivated and other non-native plant species and replacing them with native grasses and shrubs will benefit bison, elk, pronghorn, sage grouse, songbirds, and other native wildlife.

Slough South Map

Hayfields Vicinity Map

Hayfields Restoration RX Flyer
 

Beginning spring of 2025, north zone fuels staff plans to begin implementation of Munger Mountain Prescribed Fire Unit (1,663 acres). This unit involves a multi-phase/multi-year approach, treating smaller segments of the overall unit at a time. Unit field work including ongoing monitoring and protection of values through fuels reduction activities will begin onsite this spring and summer. When conditions are met in 2025, fire personnel will begin burning within the unit as snow recedes, targeting lighter fuels including grass and brush within the unit and heavier fuels along the unit boundary. Completion of this initial stage will allow for safer and more manageable firing operations in future entries that will involve burning timbered areas of the unit that create more active fire behavior.

• News Release 03/20/2025
• Munger Rx Map