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Utah

Weed Removal Protects City, Improves Ecosystem

2004

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fire staff completed a 56-acre hazardous fuels reduction project next to the Service's Utah field office. The area is located on the edge of a superfund site that is contaminated due to past steel production. The area became overgrown with tamarack and Russian olive over the years and needed to be cleared to reduce the possibility of wildfire since is close to the Salt Lake City metro area. The project involved multi-agency cooperation between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Utah Reclamation, Mitigation and Conservation Commission, Great Salt Lake Audubon Society, TreeUtah, West Jordan City and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

"Not only did the project reduce the excessive fuel loading in the area, it also removed invasive species and improved the hydrology of the Jordan River," said Service biologist Christine Cline, a specialist in environmental contaminants issues.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages public land in every U.S. state and territory, including 547 national wildlife refuges and 69 national fish hatcheries.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages 75 million burnable acres, including 24 million acres of forest/brushland and 4 million acres of grassland.

More than 50% of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands in the continental U.S. (and more than 90% in Alaska) include fire-adapted ecosystems with vegetation dependent on periodic fire.

An average of 500 wildfires burn 260,000 acres each year on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands. The Service also burns about 300,000 acres a year using prescribed fire.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service annual fire program budget is approximately $80 million.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employs more than 530 permanent fire professionals, along with 270 seasonal and temporary fire employees during fire season.

More than 3,000 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees are qualified to assist with wildland fire management on an interagency basis.

The U.S. Fish and Wildland Service Fire Management Program protects more than 700 communities and wildland-urban interface areas.

Historically, an acre was the amount of land tillable by one man behind an ox in one day. This measures 90% of a football field. There are 640 acres in a square mile.

More than 90% of the hazardous fuels reduction by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is completed using prescribed fire.