3.1 Demographics, Location, Topography, and Climatic data

Lincoln County is located in eastern Nevada, adjacent to the Utah/Nevada border and immediately north of Clark County, Nevada. Lincoln County is approximately 6.8 million acres in size. A jurisdictional summary of land management administration and coverage including water is provided in Table 3-1 and presented in Figure 3-1. The majority of land within Lincoln County is administered and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The federal land management policies and decisions on the wildland-urban interface land will have direct effects on private landowners within Lincoln County.

Table 3-1. Land Management Acreage within Lincoln County

Land Administrator	Approximate Acreage	Percent of County
Bureau of Land Management	5,604,415	82
Forest Service	29,347	<1
Department of Defense	772,736	12
Fish and Wildlife Service	268,723	4
State of Nevada	5,733	<1
Private	122,815	2
Water	2,622	<1
Approximate values derived from the BLM landownership GIS database. The land administrator for surface waters in Lincoln County was not available in the database.

The Nevada State Demographer estimated the 2003 population for Lincoln County at 3,749 persons. The Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation listed trade, government, and service industries as the major employer types in the County. (Nevada Commission on Economic Development, 2004).

Elevations within the county range from 10,310 feet in the Schell Creek Range in the northern portion of the county, to approximately 1,760 feet at Town Wash in the southeast corner of the county. Primary mountain ranges include the southern extent of the Schell Creek Range, the Delamar Mountains, the Meadow Valley Mountains, and the Pahranagat Range. Part of the Desert National Wildlife Range extends into the southwestern portion of the county, as does a small portion of the Nellis Air Force Range.

3.2 Wildfire History

Several large wildfires have occurred in the recent history of Lincoln County. Between 1980 and 2003, 423,876 acres (approximately six percent of Lincoln County) burned in wildland fires. According to information in the BLM database, the largest fire recorded in the county was a 21,805-acre fire in 1999 at the south end of the Delamar Mountains. Table 3-2 summarizes the fire histories and fire ignitions recorded by year for public lands within Lincoln County. Figure 3-2 illustrates the recorded fire history in the vicinity of Lincoln County. Several wildland fires may have occurred on private lands within the county, however, these fires are not always reported to federal agencies and are therefore not reflected in Table 3-2 or Figure 3-2.

Table 3-2. Summary of Reported Fire History Data 1980-2003

Year	Number of Fire Ignitions	Total Fire Acreage
1980	110	32,860
1981	80	158
1982	46	196
1983	47	444
1984	65	16,714
1985	94	8,185
1986	149	27,046
1987	112	2,060
1988	83	13,667
1989	65	9,215
1990	81	584
1991	83	51
1992	65	2,447
1993	78	37,238
1994	177	54,980
1995	57	676
1996	278	69,334
1997	71	9,776
1998	99	15,404
1999	160	40,227
2000	195	61,244
2001	125	1,962
2002	131	18,693
2003	103	715
TOTAL	2,554	423,876
Source: Fire history data provided by the National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, Idaho. Fire acreage is derived from BLM and USFS fire perimeter data and specific to fire acreage within Lincoln County.

3.2.1 Ignition Risk Factors

Ignition risks for wildfires fall into two categories: lightning and human caused. Human caused ignitions can come from a variety of sources: fires started along roads from burning material thrown out of vehicle windows or ignited during auto accidents; off-road vehicles; railroads; arcing power lines; agricultural fires; ditch burning; debris burning in piles or burn barrels; target shooting; unattended campfires; and fireworks. The ignition source records for Lincoln County indicate that for 2,554 fire incidents, 2,034 were due to lightning, 479 were human caused, and 41 were of unknown origin.

3.2.2 Fire Ecology

The science of fire ecology is the study of how fire contributes to plant community structure and species composition. A “fire regime” is defined in terms of the average number of years between fires under natural conditions (fire frequency) and the extent to which dominant vegetation is replaced by fire (fire severity). Natural fire regimes have been affected throughout most of Nevada by twentieth century fire suppression policies. Large areas that formerly burned with high frequency but low intensity (fires more amenable to control, suppression, and rehabilitation) are now characterized by large accumulations of unburned fuels, which once ignited, will burn at higher intensities.

Big sagebrush communities are the most common vegetation types in Nevada with an altered fire regime, now characterized by infrequent, high-intensity, catastrophic fires. Sagebrush requires ten to twenty years or more to reestablish on burned areas, and most often these areas provide the conditions for establishment and spread of invasive species before sagebrush reestablishment can occur. Cheatgrass is the most common invasive species to reoccupy sagebrush and pinyon-juniper burned areas in northern Nevada.

Effect of Cheatgrass on Fire Ecology

Cheatgrass is a common, introduced annual grass that aggressively invades disturbed areas, especially burns. Replacement of a native shrub community with a pure stand of cheatgrass increases the susceptibility of an area to repeated wildfire ignitions, especially in late summer when desiccating winds and lightning activity are more prevalent. The annual production, or volume of cheatgrass fuel produced each year, is highly variable and dependent on winter and spring precipitation. Plants can range from only a few inches tall in a dry year to over two feet tall on the very same site in wet years. In a normal or above normal precipitation year, cheatgrass can be considered a high hazard fuel type. In dry years, cheatgrass is generally sparse and low in stature and poses a low fire behavior hazard because it tends to burn with a relatively low intensity. However, in both wet and dry years, dried cheatgrass creates a highly flammable fuel bed that is easily ignited with the propensity to rapidly burn into adjacent cover types that may be characterized by more severe and hazardous fire behavior. The ecologic risk of a fire spreading from a cheatgrass stand into adjacent, unburned native vegetation is that additional disturbed areas are thereby opened and vulnerable to cheatgrass invasion. Associated losses of natural resource values such as wildlife habitat, soil stability, and watershed functions are additional consequences.

Eliminating cheatgrass is an arduous task. Mowing defensible space and fuelbreak areas annually before seed maturity is effective in reducing cheatgrass growth. In areas where livestock may be utilized, implementing early-season intensive grazing up to and during flowering may aid in depleting the cheatgrass seed bank and reduce the annual fuel load (BLM 2003, Davison and Smith 2000, Montana State University 2004). It may take years and intensive treatment efforts to control cheatgrass in a given area, but it is a desirable conservation objective in order to revert the landscape to the natural fire cycle and reduce the occurrence of large, catastrophic wildfires. Community-wide efforts in cooperation with county, state, and federal agencies are necessary for successful cheatgrass reduction treatments.

Fire Ecology in Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands

Singleleaf pinyon and Utah juniper are the dominant components of a plant community commonly referred to as Pinyon-Juniper (P-J). P-J woodlands were primarily confined to the steeper slopes normally found at higher elevations in the Great Basin prior to European settlement. These woodland communities were characterized by a discontinuous distribution on the landscape and a heterogeneous internal fuel structure: a mosaic pattern of shrubs and trees resulting from the canopy openings created by small and frequent wildfires.

Both pinyon and juniper trees have relatively thin bark with continuous branching all the way to the ground. In dense stands, lower tree branches frequently intercept adjacent ladder fuels, e.g. shrubs, herbaceous groundcover, and smaller trees. This situation creates a dangerous fuel condition where ground fires can be carried into tree canopies, often resulting in crown fires. A crown fire is the most perilous of all wildfire conditions and is usually catastrophic in nature since the danger to firefighters is generally too great to deploy ground crews.

3.3 Natural Resources and Critical Features Potentially At risk

Critical features at risk of loss during a wildfire event can be economic assets such as agricultural and industrial resources or cultural features, such as historic structures, archaeological sites, and recreation-based resources.

3.3.1 Historical Registers

There are five sites listed on the National Register of Historical Places for Lincoln County. The Nevada State Register of Historical Places lists one site. The effects of fire on cultural and historical resources depend upon factors that vary from place to place such as fuels, terrain, and type of cultural or historical buildings and resources present. Archeological sites and historic trails are not necessarily vulnerable to wildfire impacts. Historic districts, historic buildings, and resources in the wildland-urban interface communities in Lincoln County that could be negatively impacted by wildfire are summarized in Table 3-3.

Table 3-3. Historical Places At Risk in Lincoln County

Site Name	Location	Source Register
1938 Lincoln County Courthouse	Pioche	National Register of Historic Places
Bristol Wells Town Site aka Bristol City	Pioche	National Register of Historic Places
Brown’s Hall - Thompson’s Opera House	Pioche	National Register of Historic Places
Caliente Railroad Depot aka Caliente Station	Caliente	National Register of Historic Places
Lincoln County Courthouse	Pioche	National Register of Historic Places
Smith (Scott) Hotel	Caliente	Nevada State Register of Historic Places

3.3.2 Flora and Fauna

Potential habitat is present in Lincoln County for six species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. An additional twenty species are protected by state legislation (Nevada Natural Heritage Program database; last updated for Lincoln County March 18, 2004). These species are identified in Table 3-4. The Nevada Natural Heritage Program, the Nevada Division of Forestry, and the Nevada Department of Wildlife should be consulted regarding specific concerns and potential mitigation to minimize impacts to these species prior to implementing fuel reduction projects and prior to the occurrence of a catastrophic wildfire.

Table 3-4. Federal and State Listed Flora and Fauna At Risk in Lincoln County

Scientific Name	Common Name	Legislation
Plants
Astragalus geyeri var. triquetrus	Threecorner milkvetch	NRS 527.260.300
Astragalus mohavensis var. hemigyrus	Halfring milkvetch	NRS 527.260.300
Eriogonum viscidulum	Sticky buckwheat	NRS 527.260.300
Optunia pulchella	Sand cholla	NRS 527.060.120
Sclerocactus schlesseri	Schlesser pincushion	NRS 527.060.120
Spiranthes diluvialis	Ute lady’s tresses	NRS 527.260.300
Fish
Catostomus clarki ssp. (unnamed)	Meadow Valley Wash desert sucker	NRS 501
Crenichthys baileyi baileyi	White River springfish	ESA-Listed Endangered NRS 501
Crenichthys baileyi grandis	Hiko White River springfish	ESA-Listed Endangered NRS 501
Gila robusta jordani	Pahranagat roundtail chub	ESA-Listed Endangered NRS 501
Lepidomeda mollispinis mollispinis	Virgin River spinedance	NRS 501
Lepidomeda mollispinis pratensis	Big Spring spinedace	ESA - Listed Threatened NRS 501
Rhinichthys osculus ssp. unnamed	Meadow Valley speckled dace	NRS 501
Rhinichthys osculus velifer	Pahranagat speckled dace	NRS 501
Rhinichthys sp. (unnamed)	Pahranagat dace	NRS 501
Reptiles
Gopherus agassizii	Desert tortoise (Mojave Desert population)	ESA - Listed Threatened NRS 501
Heloderma suspectum cinctum	Banded gila monster	NRS 501
Mammals
Euderma maculatum	Spotted bat	NRS 501
Birds
Athene cunicularia hypugaea	Western burrowing owl	NRS 501
Buteo regalis	Ferruginous hawk	NRS 501
Buteo swainsoni	Swainson’s hawk	NRS 501
Coccyzus americanus occidentalis	Western yellow-billed Cuckoo	NRS 501
Empidonax traillii extimus	Southwestern willow flycatcher	ESA - Listed Endangered NRS 501
Ixobrychus exilis hesperis	Western least bittern	NRS 501
Otus flammeolus	Flammulated owl	NRS 501
Phainopepla nitens	Phainopepla	NRS 501

3.3.3 Recreation

Approximately 269,000 acres of the Desert National Wildlife Refuge extend into southwest Lincoln County. The US Fish and Wildlife Service administers the Refuge, which was established primarily for perpetuating the desert bighorn sheep and its habitat. Camping, hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, bird watching and limited hunting are all popular activities enjoyed by refuge visitors. Wildfires in the area would damage wildlife habitat and could cause a reduction in visitor days in the Refuge, potentially causing economic losses in the surrounding communities.

3.4 Previous Fire Hazard Reduction Projects

In August 2002 a team of specialists from Resource Concepts, Inc. conducted Wildfire Risk/Hazard Assessments in four Lincoln County Communities: Caliente, Mt. Wilson, Panaca, and Pioche/Caselton Heights. Each community is included in a separate community chapter in this report, with a summary of the 2002 RCI risk assessment, fuel reduction plans, and descriptions of completed treatments.

Acoma	300 acres	Tree thinning
Clover Mountain Ponderosa Restoration	800 acres	Pinyon-Juniper removal and prescribed burn
Ella Mountain	38 acres	Brush removal and tree thinning
Sage Grouse Lek Improvement	26,000 acres	Tree and brush thinning
Sheep Flat Restoration	4,300 acres	Prescribed fire

For additional information on the proposed fuel reduction treatments in Lincoln County, contact either the BLM Ely Field Office or Caliente Field Station Fire Management Specialist/Fuels Program Manager.

Figure 3-1 Community Locations and Land Ownership, Lincoln County, Nevada small | large | x-large
Figure 3-2 Fire History and Critical Features Potentially At Risk, Lincoln County, Nevada small | large | x-large