The National Park Service (NPS) Wildland Fire Program manages fire to protect people, parks, and resources by using it as a tool for ecological restoration, reducing hazardous fuels, and suppressing dangerous wildfires, all while prioritizing safety, utilizing science, and collaborating with partners for ecosystem health, habitat maintenance, and historic landscape preservation. They conduct controlled prescribed burns, manage fuels (like thinning trees), fight wildfires, and use technology for monitoring and data analysis.
Key Activities of NPS Wildland Fire:
- Resource Protection: Safeguards public safety, park communities, homes, and infrastructure from destructive fires.
- Ecological Restoration: Uses fire as a natural process to restore healthy ecosystems, promote native plants, control pests, and recycle nutrients.
- Fuels Management: Reduces fire risk through planned burns (prescribed fire) and mechanical treatments (thinning, mowing) to lower fuel loads.
- Wildfire Response: Suppresses wildfires and supports other agencies through interagency agreements, using specialized crews and equipment.
- Scientific Research: Employs fire ecologists to study fire's role in ecosystems, monitor effects, and integrate current science into management decisions.
- Cultural & Historic Preservation: Uses fire to maintain specific cultural landscapes, like battlefields, to reflect historical conditions.
- Technology & Data: Utilizes GIS, drones, satellite imagery, and weather data for planning, mapping, monitoring, and decision-making.
How It Works:
- Prescribed Fire: Crews ignite fires under specific, safe conditions (often with snow or moisture) to achieve management goals, burning piles of cleared vegetation (slash) or letting natural ignitions burn in wilderness areas.
- Interagency Collaboration: Works closely with other agencies (Forest Service, BLM) and partners to manage fires across different land types.
- Safety Focus: Emphasizes firefighter and public safety above all else, ensuring a “safe and successful fire management program”.