Living With Fire
Living With Fire
The majority of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service lands have evolved with fire. The wildlife and plants supported by these forests, grasslands, wetlands, and deserts depend on fire for their survival. Lack of periodic fire in these wildlands (due to fire suppression or fragmentation of landscapes from human development) has increased the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
The dangers of excluding natural fire include large and damaging fires resulting from the accumulation of flammable vegetation above historic levels; loss of life or serious injury to firefighters and the public; property loss and damage; adverse health effects and impaired visibility from intense or extended periods of unmanageable smoke; loss of plant and animal species and their habitats; and damage to soils, watersheds and water quality.
The Service has been using prescribed fire safely, cost-effectively, and regularly on a landscape-scale since the 1930s. This practice has resulted in Service lands being in relatively healthy ecological condition overall with a low risk of catastrophic fire.
Service biologists and fire managers recognize that there is no ecological equivalent to fire; no other fuels treatment method or natural disturbance yields the identical or complete range of benefits that result from the occurrence of wildland fire within ecosystems that have evolved with fire.
The Service's fire management program benefits the environment and society in many ways including keeping firefighters and the public safe, reducing the effects of smoke produced by unwanted fire, reducing damage to natural resources and private property from wildfire, and protecting and sustaining plants and animals that depend on fire.
Wildland Urban Interface
With an ever increasing number of Americans building homes in rural settings, the concept of wildland urban interface has never been as prevalent as it is today.
The primary objective of fighting unwanted wildfire is to protect human life. Public and firefighter safety is the first priority and is not compromised for any reason. Protecting communities, property, and natural resources are secondary objectives after ensuring human safety. The FWS is dedicated to fulfilling these goals through safety standards and practices, and through collaborative processes such as the Department of the Interior Rural Fire Assistance program.
A prescribed burn at Merritt Island NWR reduces hazardous fuels in the wildland-urban interface. (USFWS)
Collaboration among partners is fundamental to effective fire management. Whether working with federal,Tribal, state, local, private or non-profit cooperators, the Service aims for a holistic and collaborative effort in its management practices. Embracing the ideas and concepts of others gives the Service flexibility and innovation in its adaptive management techniques.
Explore Collaboration in greater detail
SocioEconomic Values
Clean Air | Clean Water | Invasives Species | Outdoor Recreation | Threatened & Endangered Species | Wilderness | Wildlife Habitat
Through a long-term program of prescribed burning, Service fire managers are better able to manage smoke within acceptably safe air quality levels and avoid the potential dangers of smoke caused by uncontrolled wildfire, such as decreased visibility and air quality that increases health hazards. Overall, smoke generated by prescribed fire contains lower levels of particulates than smoke from wildfires, many of which exceed standards for human health.
Smoke from a prescribed fire at Lower Klamath NWR rises straight up and remains within the perimeter of the fire. Prescribed burns provide for better firefighter and public safety by helping prevent poor air quality and visibility on the ground that often occur during uncontrolled wildfires. (USFWS)
Clean water depends upon stable soils and protection against erosion. The Service's long-term ecological approach to fire management minimizes the risk of high soil severity wildfires, which are most likely to lead to mudslides and water quality issues. Repairs or emergency stabilization helps lessen the risk of post-fire soil erosion.
Controlling the growth of invasive plants is a key to reducing fire risk and maintaining the health of native ecosystems. The use of prescribed fire and mechanical/chemical treatments on national wildlife refuges, waterfowl production areas, national fish hatchery lands, and other lands is helping fight many invasive plant species, and promoting the growth of native species. Reducing flammable invasive plants increases protection to human communities.
Research plots are burned at the National Bison Range to evaluate the effects of fire in controlling invasive plants. (USFWS)
Monitoring plant growth before and after fire occurrence is necessary to assess the response of specific invasive species and adjust fire management activities to meet desired land management objectives. With the help of its partners, the Service is expanding the practice of monitoring and research within its fire management program.
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The Service's legislative mandate includes meeting the purposes for which the National Wildlife Refuge System was established. The use of prescribed fire and wildland fire on national wildlife refuges helps ensure healthier, more productive landscapes as well as safer communities for both people and wildlife.
The Service's long-term ecological approach to fire management supports sustainable hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching on Service-managed lands. There is a national wildlife refuge within an hour's drive of every major metropolitan area in the United States. Tens of millions of people enjoy these resources and infuse hundreds of millions of dollars annually into local and regional economies through their recreational activities on refuge lands. Click here to view Banking on Nature, The Economic Benefit to Local Communities of National Wildlife Refuge Visitation.
Threatened and Endangered Species
Under provisions of the Endangered Species Act, with a priority on human safety, the Service provides biological expertise to all fire management organizations. Service wildlife biologists provide essential consultation to other agencies conducting hazardous fuels reduction projects to ensure protection of threatened and endangered species. Service and other agency wildlife biologists review fire management plans and projects to maximize protection and management of threatened and endangered fish, wildlife and plants.
The Service manages more than 20 million acres of wilderness within national wildlife refuges in 25 states.
Wilderness in the National Wildlife Refuge System represents a variety of ecosystems. These areas produce clean air and clean water as well as natural biodiversity of fish, wildlife and plants. As part of America's tradition, wilderness assures the perpetuation of outdoor recreation in places that will forever remain relatively untouched and unaltered except by natural processes.
Due to their usually remote locations, wilderness areas are often suitable for wildland fire use, or the burning of naturally ignited fires that do not pose a risk to people or communities. Information about Service wilderness areas.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service has long recognized fire as a unique process that shapes habitat structure and function, and a long history of managing and using fire extensively to maintain and enhance habitats throughout the country. Protecting biological communities also protects human communities.
Fire management on Service lands helps restore and maintain desirable conditions for wildlife, which also protects local communities and critical habitat for many threatened and endangered species. These healthy ecosystems are good for both wildlife and people.
Migrating birds flock to grasslands treated with prescribed fire. (USFWS)
Using fire on national wildlife refuges, waterfowl production areas, national fish hatchery lands, and conservation easements is essential for managing habitats that sustain migratory birds and other diverse wildlife populations. Service projects designed to reduce hazardous conditions in wildland-urban interface communities provide substantial benefits to wildlife habitat. Restoring and maintaining all lands in desirable ecological condition would maximize benefits to wildlife.
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Fire Restores Habitat for Desert Bighorn |
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Prairie Restoration Brings Back Declining Songbirds |