A fire burning in a wild horse range of canyonlands north of Grand Junction erupted from 415 acres to more than 900 today, but firefighting agencies continue to let it burn.
The so-called Cosgrove fire is clearing out decades of juniper pinyon overgrowth in the Buffalo Wallow area that has choked out pastures for horses and other wildlife.
The Friends of the Mustangs citizens group has applauded the fire management effort so far.
“I am very pleased that there is a fire up on the horse range because the Buffalo Wallow area has become a veritable jungle that needs to be cleared out,” one of the group’s founders, Marty Felix, said in a written statement today.
Crews are maintaining a 300-foot buffer around the fire and directing flames away from the herd, authorities have said.
Felix said she had observed the horse herds this week, and they do not appear to be in harm’s way or under stress.
The fire is in the 26,525-acre in the Little Bookcliffs Wilderness Study Area, a federally designated wild horse range.
Lightning started the fire Sunday.
