Prescribed fire has been used as an inexpensive and rapid method for disposing of slash following fuelwood sales in pinyon-juniper sites. Soil heating during a fire has a direct effect on soil nutrients and microbial activity. The potential for understory cover quantity and quality, along with soil nutrient changes should be the determining factors in management decisions to use prescribed fire for slash disposal. Our investigation measured soil nitrogen and phosphorus changes, and the understory community following a prescribed fire in a pinyon-juniper site in central Arizona.