Much of the land in and around the Verde Valley is owned by the federal government and managed through the U.S. Forest Service.
Here, a lot of the land is looked after through the Prescott National Forest and the Coconino National Forest.
Last week, the forest service opened a window into some of what they do to manage such vast areas of land.
They did it with a little help from one of the most well recognized faces of the forest service, Smokey Bear.
Randy Harmon, a forest ranger who works as support staff out of the Verde Ranger Station, noted that while people like to be outside, it probably wasn’t the case for most people on the 108-degree day that was June 24.
“It could be worse, though,” Harmon said. “You could be out working a prescribed burn.”
Prescribed or controlled burns are one way the forest service works to keep public land in good health.
Burning some forest land can help to prevent the damage done by massive fires that Arizona is certainly no stranger to.
Even this week, the forest service is wrapping up efforts to fight a nearly 24,000-acre fire zone south of Flagstaff that was started by a lightning strike.
Harmon framed the members of the forest service who fight those fires as local heroes.
“We’ve got a lot of them,” Harmon said.
Smokey was there to greet a number of children who had turned out to learn about the forest service, which operates under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, July 1, edition of The Camp Verde Journal.
