Camping in Utah: Nostalgia, pollution make campfires a burning issue

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Wheel Campfire of West Valley City uses tire wheels as the base for propane fires, which can be used during fire bans.

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For many people, camping without a fire would be like making a s'more without a graham cracker.

But growing use of the backcountry and developed campgrounds, coupled with environmental and fire danger concerns, has led to more restrictions on traditional wood campfires.

Many national parks do not allow firewood collecting, especially in Utah's desert parks where wood is scarce. Fires are banned in parts of the High Uintas and Timpanogos Wilderness areas that are so heavily used, wood is simply not available. Fire fuel is so scarce at many developed sites that campers are encouraged to bring their own or purchase on site. And state and federal agencies sometimes issue fire bans when conditions are so dry that a spark from a campfire might ignite a forest fire.

"The policy on the [Wasatch-Cache-Uinta] forest as far as fuel for campfires is that anything that is down and dead, visitors are allowed to use for campfires," said Loyal Clark, a spokesperson for the national forest that encompasses much of northern Utah. "Anything that is still standing is not allowed to be cut down for use for firewood."

She said there are few if any areas near developed campgrounds with a supply of fuel wood.

"We are encouraging visitors who want to have an old fashioned campfire to bring their own wood," said Clark. "Some camping concessionaires have bundles of wood to sell. That is an option for a campfire."

Another increasingly popular alternative is to purchase a propane fire pit, some not unlike gas logs popular in homes. Two Utah companies, Camp Chef in Logan, and Wheel Campfire in West Valley City, produce fires fueled by traditional propane tanks. Wheel Campfire also offers accessories that include heating racks for Dutch ovens and a wok.

While these propane fires don't provide the smoky ambiance of a traditional wood fire, they do offer advantages. They are legal during fire bans and light instantly on cold mornings or when the weather is bad.

"If it has a valve and when you turn it off it goes out immediately, then you are okay [during a ban]," said Reid Shelley, assistant fire management officer for prevention for the Wasatch-Cache-Uinta National Forest.

Salt Lake City Dutch oven enthusiast Byron Bills says there no substitute for cooking over an open campfire.

"With Dutch ovens, it's just smelling the food cooking," he said. "It gets you salivating sitting around the fire and waiting for the food to come off. It smells so good."

Bills said he has tried using his Dutch ovens over a propane fire.

"It can be done but it is kind of tricky," he said. "Dutch ovens work better when the majority of the

Members of the Compassion Christian Church trade stories and laughs as they roast marshmallows at the Spruces Campground. (Tribune file photo)

Campfires are not all bad.

For example, Kathy Jo Pollock of the U.S. Forest Service said one of the reasons that agency issues firewood cutting permits is to clear dead wood that would burn in a wildfire.

"That helps keep the hazardous fuels down," she said. "All kinds of logs come down on the forest floor and we are cutting some of that. These are fuels that carry a fire. Even a standing dead tree in a wildlife that ignites will carry into live trees. This is one way of helping reduce hazardous fuels."

In Yellowstone National Park, wood gathering and traditional fires are allowed in some designated backcountry campsites depending on the availability of fuels and potential fire danger. Some sites allow only gas stoves. While wood can be difficult to find around developed campsites, it is legal to pick up dead and downed woods, though breaking limbs is not permitted, said Tim Reid, the park's chief ranger.

"There is certainly no substitute for the ambience of a campfire," Reid said.

Dick Carter of the High Uintas Preservation Council has expressed concerns to the U.S. Forest Service for years about the use of campfires in Utah's largest wilderness area and has had success getting a substantial portion of the High Uintas closed to campfires.

"There is something about a fire in the woods, but especially in wilderness we have to look beyond our own selfish reasons and begin to look at the whole ecosystem," he said. "It's astonishing to people but there are large areas where you can't find even dead trees. My guess is we will see more and more restrictions."

He called some of the twigs and downed wood used for campfires crucial to the building and fertilizing of forest soils.

That said, if Leave No Trace principles are followed, regulations limiting fire use obeyed and safety concerns met, the traditional campfire seems destined to remain a big part of the camping experience for years to come.

wharton@sltrib.com