2008 Federal Duck Stamp Contest Phone: 573-222-3589 |
A Fire Management Plan was adopted in 2003 which provides a detailed course of action to implement fire management policies for the Refuge. The general fire management goals are for firefighter and public safety, protection of life, property, and other resources from unplanned fire, using prescribed fire to accomplish resource management objectives, restoring ecological processes, and developing and implementing a process to ensure the collections, analysis, and application of fire management information in management decisions.
The Refuge uses prescribed fire to the fullest extent possible to restore natural ecological processes, fire regimes, and vegetative communities including native warm season grasses and wet meadows. Prescribed fire is also utilized to maintain and enhance moist soil units by retarding the invasion of woody species and noxious weeds. Prescribed fire helps the Refuge restore and perpetuate habitat important to migratory and native wildlife species by maintaining a diversity of plant communities in a variety of successional stages.
The Refuge utilizes staff, volunteers, and the Mingo Job Corps Center (US Forest Service) to manage the risks associated with hazardous fuels. Wildland urban interface activities include disking, mowing, and tree clearing. These activities help to protect sensitive boundary areas and resources to reduce the risk from wildland fire damage.
